






0«iO 









^;^^5r-::::'*V-, . 



SfBSW 






«;« 







^i;^5^g^;; ■■■""■■■ 




t^l 



V 



Bmk'-'*:i5 a 



iP^Tie ^ Madison 



I 




fta.. ^/?//^f - 



Book 



M^ir- 



fanyright^j" /f/)( ^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr 



Sweethearts Always 

Poems of Love 



[-^-r^r '-^:-? - Ty j H L ' t -'i. i' . ^ . t.y ::?-? " 



Sweethearts Always 



Poems of Love 

Selected by 

Janet Madison 



Illustrated by 

H. Putnam Hall 



The Reilly & Britton Co. 
1906 



t: 



Chicago r] 



ti» 



/<?■ 



LiBRARy n<OON'GRRSS 
Two Cnni^c R«(;pjv5(( 

AUG n 1906 

CLAS^a XXc, No, 
COPY B. 



Copyright, igo6 

BY 

THE REILLY & BRITTON CO. 
Chicago 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

TO 

w. s. 



PREFACE 



TJie Literature of Love finds its best expression in 
Poetry, the language of emotion. So volwninons is this 
literature, corresponding as it does to the nniversality of 
the emotion, that it wotdd seem that no novelty of poetic 
expression were left the modern lover who woidd indite a 
sonnet to his mistress eye -brow or turn a couplet in praise 
of her less obvious charms. 

From the "Song of Solon wn " to the "Songs of Swin- 
burne " has welled up a chorus of songs by major and 
minor poets that wotdd datmt the spirit of the bravest 
anthologist. No adequate anthology were indeed possible 
without qualifying limitations of a most definite kind. 

The limitation imposed in this little collection is that 
of Constancy in relation to the poetry of love; the idea of 



Constancy is still further qualified by limitation to the 
loves of men and women for one another. 

Even within these narrow bounds this collection is not 
exhaustive ; but it is believed to be the only collection of its 
kind, and it is hoped that it will meet with the approval 
of all who seek a fitting expression of the sentiments to 
which this collection is dedicated. 

A note of variety has been introduced by placing an 
appropriate motto at the foot of each page, arranged in 
alphabetical order. These mottoes or ring posies were in 
olden times engraved on engagement and wedding rings. 

Thanks are due various publishers for permission to 
ztse copyrighted poems. 



ilnlifx nf Autl|or0 



Addison, Joseph 

Love 223 

Anonymous 

Love Me Little, Love Me Long . . . . . . 210 

Arnold, Edwin 

Destiny . . . . . . „ . . . ,191 

Arnold, Matthew 

Lovers 135 

Too Late . . . . . . . . . . >ii7 

Baum, L. Frank 

Her Answer ......... 57 

Bayly, Thomas Haynes 

Won't You? . . . „ 23 

Beddoes, Thomas Lovell 

How Many Times ........ 30 

Beraxger, de, Pierre Jean 

Old Age ........... 224 

Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen 

If We Had Met : . 198 

Lilac and Gold and Green . . . . . . . - 138 

Lo\e Me a Little 82 

On His Fortune in Loving Her ....... 73 

To One Who Loved Him ....... 156 

Bourdillon, Francis W. 

Farewell ........... 209 

Light 133 

Brooke, Stopford Augustus 

May and Love .......... 39 

xi 



Slithpx af Aulljnra 

Browing, Elizabeth Barrett 

A Woman's Question ......... 24 

A Woman's Shortcomings ....... 118 

Love ............ 195 

Sonnets from the Portuguese . . 33, 44, 50, 68, 80, 177, 178, 179 

Browning, Robert 

One Way of Lo'^g/ ......... 190 

Song from " A Blot on the 'Scutcheon" ..... 150 

Song from " Pippa Passes " ....... 71 

Burns, Robert 

A Red, Red Rose ......... 55 

Bonny LesHe .......... 184 

Bonnie Peg .......... 144 

Jean ........... 180 

My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing .62 

The Banlis of Doon ........ 42 

Byron, Lord (George Gordon Noel) 

Imitated from Catullus ........ 200 

Maid of Athens .......... 132 

Passages from Don Juan . . . . . . . . 121 

Recollections . . . . . . . . . .120 

She Walks in Beauty ........ 109 

Campbell, Thomas 

The First Kiss . . . . . . . . . . 90 

Cary, Alice 

Love ........... 69 

Myrrha ........... 143 

Young Love .......... 63 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 

Answer to a Child's Question ....... 189 

Love ........... 67 

She is not Fair .......... 199 

The Exchange ......... 201 

Collins, Mortimer 

A Conceit ........... 139 

xii 



ilubrx nf Aiillj0ra 

C»WLEY, Abraham 

The Pain of Love ......... 47 

Craik, Dixah Mulock 

I Love You .......... 84 

Dickens, Charles 

Song 173 

DoBSON, Austin 

Rose 116 

The Wanderer ......... 149 

Dryden, John 

From "All For Love" 67 

Eliot, George 

Sweethearts Always . . . . . . . . .21 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 

Eros ............. 97 

ElTZGERALD, EdWARB 

From " Omar Khayyam" ....... 147 

Gilbert, William Schwenk 

Sweethearts .......... 136 

Henley, W^illiam Ernest 

In the Year that's Come and Gone ...... 140 

Herrick, Robert 

How His Soul Came Ensnared ....... 87 

How Roses Came Red ........ 99 

Love Me Little, Love Me Long . . . . . . - 151 

Love, What It Is . . . . . . . . . 172 

On Gilly-Flowers Begotten '. . . . . . . . 203 

Presence and Absence ........ 168 

The Rock of Rubies ......... 184 

The Rosary . . . . . . . . . . 175 

To Dianeme . . . . - . . . . . . 220 

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time ..... 56 

Upon a Virgin Kissing a Rose . . . . . . .220 

Writing .......... 201 

Holmes, Edmond Gore Alexander 

By Love Must Love be Mastered . . . . . . - 51 

xiii 



^nhtx of Autlinrfi 

Holmes, Edmond Gore Alexander 

I may not Love Thee ........ 93 

Nature hath Crowned Thee . . . . . . . .81 

What has Life Taught Me 95 

Hood, Thomas 

Faithless Sally Brown . . .'. . . . -i57 

Houghton, Lord Richard Monckton Milnes 

The Brookside . . . . . . ' . . . 204 

Hugo, Victor 

■ All — All is Love 103 

Hunt, Leigh 

Cupid Swallowed 87 

A Love Lesson .......... 147 

Ingelow, Jean 

Lovers . . . . . " . ' . . . . . 142 

Love's Power . . . . . . . . -223 

Love's Thread of Gold . . . . . . . . 112 

JoNSON, Ben 

Love ............ 47 

To Celia ........... 76 

Kingsley, Charles 

Twin Stars Aloft 70 

Kipling, Rudyard 

The Lovers' Litany . . . . . . . . .114 

Landor, Walter Savage 

Defiance .......... 148 

Heart's Ease . . . . . . . . . .121 

Rubies . . . . . . . . . . . 113 

The Maid I Love . . . 193 

To a Fair Maiden 223 

To Love ........... 213 

Lamartine, de, Alphonse Marie Louise 

Almond Blossoms ........ 96 

To Elvira 170 

Locker, Frederick 

She Laughed She Climbed . . . . . - - 111 

xiv 



3ln&rx nf AitlI|ora 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 

From "Evangeline" ........ 14, 34 

From " The Song of Hiawatha " . . . . . . 124 

From "The Courtship of Miles Standish" ..... 164 

Lowell, James Russell 

Love ........... 60 

Lytton, Lord Robert Bulwer (Owen Meredith) 

Fatahty . . . . . . . . . . .218 

From"Lucile" ......... 163 

O Near Ones, Dear Ones ........ 100 

Marlowe, Christopher 

From "Hero and Leander" ....... 131 

Massey, Gerald 

Love in Idleness ......... 37 

Meredith, Owen 
(See Lytton) 

Moore, Thomas 

Dost Thou Remember ........ 32 

Love Thee . . . . . . . . . . .110 

When First We Loved . 41 

Morris, George Pope 

When Other Friends are Round Thee ...... 43 

Nadaud, Gustave 

The Song of Thirty Years ....... 88 

Norton, Caroline Sheridan 

The One You Loved The Best . . . . . . -131 

Palgrave, Francis Turner 

Love's Language ......... 197 

Patmore, Coventry 

From "The Angel in the House" ....... 102 

Night Thoughts ......... 162 

Peacock, Thomas 

Woman's Heart .......... 40 

Procter, Adelaide Anne 

A Chain 128 

A Warning . . . . . . . . . -217 

XV 



i/tt&fx of Autl)nrfl 

Procter, Adelaide Anne 

A Woman's Answer ........ 94 

Because . . . . . . . . . . . 152 

Raleigh, Sir Walter 

From ''The Silent Lover" . . . . . . . • 141 

RossETTi, Christina Georgina 

Somewhere or Other . . . . . . . . .187 

Sonnet ........... 75 

The First Meeting 48 

RossETTi, Dante Gabriel 

The Love-Letter _ . . ^ ...... 208 

Scott, Lady John 

When Thou Art Near Me 108 

Scott, Sir Walter 

From "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" ..... 213 

Sedgwick, Jane M. (Translated by) 

A Kiss within the Cup . . . . . . . - 77 

Hinc Illae Lacrimae ......... 192 

The First Kiss .......... 52 

The Love-Letter -. . ^___ — . . — . . . 154 

The True Lover . . . . . . . . . .161 

Shakespeare, William 

From Coriolanus . . . . ... . . .215 

No, Time, Thou Shalt not Boast ...... 169 

O, That You Were Yourself . . . . . . - 72 

That Thou Hast Her ........ 74 

The Marriage of True Minds ....... 49 

The Unchangeable ......... 92 

Silent Thought . . . . . . . . . - 123 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe 

Good Night 78 

Love's Philosophy ......... 59 

To • . . . . . . . . . . -117 

To Emelia Viviani . ........ 157 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley 

Song . . . . . . . . . . . .176 

xvi 



Sidney, Sir Philip 

A Ditty 155 

SouTHEY, Robert 

Immortality of Love ......... 38 

Spenser, Edmund 

Britain's Ida 187 

Suckling, Sir John 

Love Turned to Hatred ........ 53 

Song ........... 160 

Swain, Charles 

A Heart for Every One ........ 98 

I Waited Till the Twilight ....... 202 

Song 137 

Swinburne, Algernon Charles 

Rondel 31 

Sylvester, Joshua 

Love's Omnipresence . . . . . . . . - 27 

Tennyson, Lord Alfred 

From "In Memoriam" . • 54 

From "Locksley Hall" . . . . . . . . 212 

From "Maud" 134 

From "Maud" 216 

From "The Gardener's Daughter" ...... 37 

From "The Miller's Daughter" 174 

From "The Princess" — Sweet and Low ..... 64 
From "The Princess"— As Thro' the Land . . . .101 

From " The Princess " — My Bride, My Wife .... 195 

From "Queen Mary" 84 

O Days and Hours ......... 79 

Sonnet . . . . . . . . . . .122 

The Day-Dream ......... 182 

Waller, Edmund 

Go, Lovely Rose .......... 91 

On a Girdle 58 

Watts, Alaric Alexander 

You Ask Me for a Pledge, Love . . . . . . .214 

xvii 



dinbpx of Autljnrfl 

e 

Weathers Y, Frederic E. 

Darby and Joan ......... 28 

White, Henry Kirke 

To Love ........... 188 

Whittier, John Greenleaf 

Benedicite .......... 158 

Wordsworth, William 

A Complaint 194 

She Was a Phantom of Delight . . . . . . 104 

The Lost Love ig6 



List of Illustrations 



Sweethearts Always . . . . 




Frotjtispiece 


Evangeline ..... 




35 


My Letters ! All Dead Paper 






45 


Sweet and Low .... 


. 




65 


The Happiest Hour 






85 


She Was a Phantom of Delight . 






105 


Hiawatha and Minnehaha 






125 


Bonnie Peg ..... 






145 


Priscilla and John Alden 


. 




165 


Bonny Leslie .... 






. 185 


The Brookside .... 






205 


Kissing a Rose .... 






221 



0uipptl|part0 Aluiaya 

T^WO lovers by a moss-grown spring, 
^ They leaned soft cheeks together there, 
Mingled the dark and sunny hair, 
And heard the wooing thrushes sing. 
O budding time! 
O love's best prime! 

Two wedded from the portal stept. 
The bells made happy carollings, 
The air was soft as fanning wings, 
While petals on the pathway slept. 
O pure-eyed bride! 
O tender pride! 

Two faces o'er a cradle bent; 

Two hands above the head were locked; 
These pressed each other while they rocked, 
Those watched a life that love had sent. 
O solemn hour! 
O hidden power! 



A-Friend-Indeed-in-Tyme-of-Need 



Two parents by the evening fire; 
The red light fell about their knees 
On heads that rose by slow degrees 
Like buds upon the lily spire. 
O patient life! 
O tender strife! 

The two still sat together there, 

The red light shone about their knees; 
But all the heads by slow degrees 
Had gone and left that lonely pair. 
O voyage fast 
O vanished past! 

The red light shone upon the floor, 

And made the space between them wide; 
They drew their chairs up side by side, 
Their pale cheeks joined, and said, "Once more!" 
O memories! 
O past that is! 
Eliot. 



A-F riend-To-One- As-Like-To-None 



Do you remember when you heard 
^iy Hps breathe love's first faltering word? 
You do, sweet — don't you ? 
When, having wandered all the da}', 
Linked arm in arm, I dared to say: 
"You '11 love me — won't you?" 

And when you blushed and could not speak, 
I fondly kissed your glowing cheek; 

Did that affront you? 
Oh! surely not; your eye ex])rest 
No wrath — but said perhaps in jest: 

''You 'II love me — won't you?" 

I'm sure my eyes replied, "I will;" 
And you believe that promise still; 

You do, sweet — don't you? 
Yes, yes, when age has made our eyes 
Unfit for questions or replies. 

You '11 love me — won't you? 
Bayky. 



23 



A-Friend-to-Thee-F II-Ever-Be 



A iinman*a OPiwattntt 

F^O you know you have asked for the cost- 
'-^ liest thing 

Ever made by the hand above — <^», 

A woman's heart and a woman's Hfe, -- 

And a woman's wonderful love? 

Do you know you have asked for this priceless 
thing 

As a child might ask for a toy? 
Demanding what others have died to win, 1 

With the reckless dash of a boy. 

You have written my lesson of duty out; 

Manlike, you have questioned me. 
Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul, 

Until I shall question thee. 



A-Happy-Brest-Where-Love-Doth-Rest 



You require your mutton shall always be hot, 

Your socks and your shirts be whole; 
I require your heart shall be true as God's stars, 

And pure as heaven your soul. 
You require a cook for your mutton and beef; 

I require a far better thing. 
A seamstress you 're wanting, for stockings and 
shirts; 

I look for a man, and a king. 
A king for a beautiful realm called home, 

And a man that the maker, God, 
Shall look upon as He did the first, 

x-^nd say, "It is very good." 
I am fair and young, but the rose will fade 

From my soft, young cheek one day; 
Will you love me then, 'mid the falling leaves. 

As you did 'mid the bloom of May? 



A-Heart-Content-Cannot-Repent 



t^y 



Is your heart an ocean, so strong and deep 
I may launch my all on its tide? 

A. loving woman finds heaven or hell 
On the day she is made a bride. 

I require all things that are grand and true, 
All things that a man should be; 

If you give this all, I would stake my life 
To be all you demand of me. 

If you cannot do this, a laundress and cook 
You can hire, with little to pay; 

But a woman's heart and a woman's life 
Are not to be won that way. 
Mrs. Browning. 



A-Heart-Unitcd-True-Contented 



\\TERE I as base as is the lowly plain, 
^^ And you, my Love, as high as heaven 

above, 
Yet should the thoughts of me your humble swain 
Ascend to heaven, in honour of my Love. 

Were I as high as heaven above the plain, 
And you, my Love, as humbl and as low 
As are the deepest bottoms of the main, 
Whereso'er you were,with you my love should go. 

Were you the earth, dear Love, and I the skies, 
My love should shine on you like to the sun. 
And look upon you with ten thousand eyes 
Till heaven wax'd blind, and till the world were done. 

Whereso'er I am, below, or else above you, 
Whereso'er you are, my heart shall truly love you. 
Sylve ier. 



27 



A-Kis-For-This 



0arbtt <xnh Joatt 

F^ARBY dear, we are old and gray, 
'—^ Fifty years since our wedding day, 
Shadow and sun for every one 
As the years roll on; 
Darby dear, when the world went wry, 
Hard and sorrowful then was I — 
Ah! lad, how you cheered me then, 
Things will be better, sweet wife, again.' 
Always the same, Darby, my own. 
Always the same to your old wife Joan. 

Darby dear, but my heart was wild 

When we buried our baby child. 

Until you whispered, "Heaven knows best!" 

And my heart found rest; 

Darby dear, 't was your loving hand 



28 



A-Loveing-Wife-a-Happy-Life 



¥ 



Showed the way to the better land — 
Ah! lad, as you kissed each tear, 
Life grew better and Heaven more near. 
Always the same , Darby, my own, 
Always the same to your old wife Joan. 

Hand in hand when our life was May, 
Hand in hand when our hair is gray, 
Shadow and sun for every one, 
As the years roll on; 
Hand in hand when the long night tide 
Gently covers us side by side — 
Ah! lad, though we know not when. 
Love will be with us forever then; 
Always the same. Darby, my own. 
Always the same to your old wife Joan. 
Wealherby. 



29 



A-Loving-Wife-Prolongeth-Life 



T T OW many times do I love thee, dear ? 
^ ■*■ Tell me how many thoughts there be 

In the atmosphere 

Of a new-fall 'n year, 
Whose white and sable hours appear 
The latest flake of Eternity; 
So many times do I love thee, dear. • ;' 

How many times do 1 love, agam ? 
Tell me how many beads there are 

In a silver chain 

Of the evening rain, 
Unraveled from the tumbling main, 
And threading the eye of a yellow star; 
So many times do I love again. 
Beddoes. 



30 



A-Token-Sent-With-True-Intent 



n- 



IXISSING her hair I sat against her feet, ^'^ 

'■^ Wove and unwove it, wound and found it 

sweet ; 
Made fast therewith her hands, drew down her 

eyes, 
Deep as deep flowers and dreamy hke dim skies; 
With her own tresses bound and found her fair, 

Kissing her hair. /)\///f 

Sleep were no sweeter than her face to me, 
Sleep of cold sea-bloom under the cold sea; 
What pain could get between my face and hers? 
What new sweet thing would love not relish 

worse ? 
Unless, perhaps, white death had kissed me there, 
Kissing her hair? 
Swinburne, 



A-Woman-Kind-AU-Joy-of-Mind 



Host ®I|nu l^rmrmbfr 

1~\0ST thou remember that place so lonely, 
'-^ A place for lovers, and lovers only. 

Where first I told thee all my secret sighs? 
When as the moonbeam, that trembled o er thee, 
Illumed thy blushes, I knelt before thee, 

And read my hope's sweet triumph in those eyes ? 
Then, then, while closely heart was drawn to heart, 
Love bound us — - never, never more to part ! 
And when I call'd thee by names the dearest 
That love could fancy, the fondest, nearest — 

"My life, my only life!" among the rest; 
In those sweet accents that still inthral me. 
Thou saidst, "Ah! wherefore thy life thus call me? 

Thy soul, thy soul's the name that I love best; 
For life soon passes — but how bless'd to be 
That soul which never, never parts from thee!" 
Moore. 



After-Consent-Ever-Content 



Bmmt torn tl)p ^^ortugupap 

FIRST lime he kissed me, he bul only kissed 
The fmgers of this hand wherewith I write, 
And ever since it grew more clean and white, 
Slow to world greetings — quick with its "Oh, list,'* 
When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst 
I could not wear here plainer to my sight, 
Than that first kiss. The second passed in height 
The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed, 
Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed! 
That was the chrism of love, which love's own 

crown, 
With sanctifying sweetness, did precede. 
The third, upon my lips, was folded down 
In perfect, purple state! since when, indeed, 
I have been proud and said, "My Love, my own." 
Mrs. Browning. 



33 



All-I-Refuse-But-Thee-I-Chuse 



iPrflttt "lEuattgeliu^" 

T TALF-WAY down to the shore Evangeline 

*■ *■ waited in silence, 

Not overcome w^ith grief, but strong in the hour 
of affliction, — 

Calmly and sadly she waited, until the proces- 
sion approached her, 

And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with 
emotion. 

Tears then filled her eyes, and, eigerly running 
to meet him, 

Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his 
shoulder, and whispered, — 

"Gabriel! be of good cheer! for if we love one 
another, 

Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mis- 
chances may happen!" 
Longfellow. 



AI-Myne-Shal-Be-Thyne 




yv^ ' 



THEN, in that time and place, I spoke to her, 
Requiring, the' I knew it was mine own, 
Yet for the pleasure that I took to hear. 
Requiring at her hand the greatest gift, 
A woman's heart, the heart of her I loved 
And in that time and place she answered me 
And in the compass of three little words. 
More musical than ever came in one. 
The silver fragments of a broken voice. 
Made me most happy, faUering, "I am thine." 
Tennyson. 

2l0tip in 31lilptWHa 

10NLY see — that thou art near, 
I only feel — I have thee, dear! 
I only hear thy throbbing heart. 
And know that we can never part. 
Massey. 



37 



AII-Thine-is-Mine 



dlmmortalitg ot SItiu? 

T^HEY sin who tell us love can die, 
•*■ With life all other passions fly, 
All others are but vanity; 
In heaven ambition cannot dwell, 
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell; 
Earthly these passions of the earth, 
They perish where they have their birth; 
But love is indestructible: 
Its holy flame forever burneth; 
From heaven it camie, to heaven returneth. 
Too oft on earth a troubled guest. 
At times deceived, at times oppressed. 
It here is tried and purified, 
Then hath in heaven its perfect rest: 

It soweth here with toil and care, 
But the harvest-time of love is there. 



38 



As-God-Saw-Fitt-Our-Knott-Is-Knitt 



Oh 1 when a mother meets on high 
The babe she lost in infancy, 
Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 
The day of woe, the watchful night, 
For all her sorrow, all her tears, 
An- over-payment of delight. 
Sou they 

may m\b SIouc 

J\ A AY in the woods and in m\- heart, 
^ *^ And we beside the river; 
King love between us flying 
Said, "Children, love forever." 

I heard him, and I thought she heard, 

Her lips began to quiver, 
And so I shyly kissed her; 

Love laughed along the river' 
Brooke. 



39 



As-Gold-Is-Pure-Let-Love-Indure 



Hioman'B i|rart 

OH! say not woman's heart is bought 
With vain and empty treasure; 
Oh! say not woman's heart is caught 

By every idle pleasure. 
When first her gentle bosom knows 

Love's flame, it wanders never; 
Deep in her heart the passion glows, — 
She loves, and loves for ever. 

Oh! say not woman's false as fair, 

That like the bee she ranges; 
Still seeking flowers more sweet and rare, 

As fickle fancy changes. 
Ah, no! the love that first can warm 

Will leave her bosom never; 
No second passion e'er can charm, — 

She loves, and loves for ever. 
Peacock. 



40 



As-Gold-Is-Purc-So-Love-Is-Shurc 



OH, no! — not e'en when first we loved 
Wert thou as dear as now thou art; 
Thy beauty then my senses moved, 

But now thy virtues bind my heart. 
What was but Passion's sigh before. 

Has since been turn'd to Reason's vow; 
And, though I then might love thee more, 
Trust me, I love thee better now. 

Although my heart in earlier youth 

Might kindle with more wild desire, 
Believe me, it has gain'd in truth 

Much more than it has lost in fire. 
The flame now warms my inmost core 

That then but sparkled o'er my brow, 
And, though I seem'd to love thee more, 

Yet, oh, I love thee better now. 
Moore. 



41 



As-Long-As-Life-Ur-Loving-Wifc 



(I1|P iBauka ut* iDnmi 

"V/I^ hunks iiiid braes o' boniiie Doon, 

* How can ye Ijloom sae fresh and fair; 
How can ye chant, yc Httle birds, 

And I sae weary, fu ' o' care ! 
Thou 'It l)rcak my heart, tliou warblinji; l)inl, 

That wantons tlirouj^h the llowcrin"; thorn. 
Thou 'minds me o' de|)arte(l joys, 

Departed — never to return! 

Aft ha'e I roved by bonnie Doon, 

To see the rose and woodbine twine; 
And ilka bird sang o' its luve, 

And fondly sae did I o' mine. 
Wi' light.somc heart I pu'd a rose, 

Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree; 
And my fause luver stole my rose, 

But ah! he left the thorn wi' me. 
Burns. 



42 



As-Trtte-To-Love-As-Turtle-Dove 



lieu (S)ti}tt iFriruiiii are l&muiii ®l?fe 

\ A JHEN other friends arc round thee, 
^ ^ And other hearts are thine, 
When other bays have crown'd thee, 

More fresh and <j;reen than mine, 
Thjn think how sad and lonely 

This doting heart will be, 
Which, while it throbs, throbs only, 

lieloved one, for thee ! 

Yet do not think I doubt thee, 

I know thy truth remains; 
I would not liv'e wi'diout thee, 

For all the world contains. 
Thou art the star that guides me 

Along life's changing sea; 
And whate'er fate betides me. 

This heart still turns to thee. 
Morris. 



43 



As-True-To-Thee-As-Thou-To-Me 



^onttpt from t\}i l^avtn^ntst 

MY letters! all dead paper, . . . mute and 
white! — 
And yet they seem alive and quivering 
Against my tremulous hands which loose the string 
And let them drop down on my knee to-night. 
This said, ... he wished to have me in his sight 
Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring 
To come and touch my hand ... a simple thing. 
Yet I wept for it! — this, . . . the paper's light 
Said, Dear, I love thee: and I sank and quailed 
As if God's future thundered on my past: 
This said, / am thine — and so its ink has paled 
With lying at my heart that beat too fast : 
And this . . . O Love, thy words have ill availed, 
If, what this said, I dared repeat at last! 
Mrs. Browning. 



44 



As-Trust-Bee-Just 



"T^HERE is no life on earth but being in love! 
^ There are no studies, no delights, no business, 
No intercourse, or trade of sense, or soul, 
But what is love! I was the laziest creature, 
The most unprofitable sign of nothing. 
The veriest drone, and slept away my life 
Beyond the dormouse, till I was in love! 
And now I can outwake the nightingale, 
Outwatch an usurer, and outwalk him too! 
Stalk like a ghost that haunted 'bout a treasure. 
And all that fancied treasure, it is love ! 
Jcnson. 

A MIGHTY pain to love it is, 
^*- And 't is a pain that pain to miss. 
But of all pains, the greatest pain 
It is to love, but love in vain! 
Cowley. 



47 



As-You-Finde-Me-Minde-Me 



®l)e Jirst ii^pttn0 

T WISH I could remember that first day, 

^ First hour, first moment of your meeting me, 
If bright or dim the season, it might be 

Summer or winter for aught I can say; 

So unrecorded did it shp away, 

So bhnd was I to see and to foresee, 
So dull to mark the budding of my tree 

That would not blossom yet for many a Alay. 

If only I could recollect it — such 
A day of days! I let it come and go 
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow; 

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much; 

If only now I could recall that touch, 

First touch of hand in hand — did one but know ! 
Rossetti 



Be-Constant-You-For-I-Am-Trew 



LET me not to the marriage of true minds 
Admit impediments. Love is not love, 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove: 
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken ; 
It is the star to every wandering bark 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be 

taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and 

cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks. 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error and upon me proved, 
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 
Shakespeare. 



49 



Bc-Constant-U-As-I-Am-True 



^onnft from tl)r ^ortitgups? 

y NDEED, this very love which is my l:)oast, 
^ And which, when rising up from breast to 
brov,-, 

Doth crown me with a ruby large enow 
To draw men's eyes, and prove the inner cost, — 
This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost, 

I should not love withal, unless that thou 

Hadst set me an example, shown me how, 
^^'hen first thine earnest eyes with mine were 

crossed. 
And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak 

Of love even, as a good thing of my own. 
Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weal:, 

And placed it by thee on a golden throne, — 
And that I love, (O soul, I must be meek!) 

Is by thee only, whom I love alone. 
Mrs. Browning. 



Be-Kinde-In-Harte 



Hiy iCnuf iHiuit Cnuf be fflaritrrcb 

BY love must love be mastered, fire by lire, 
Passion by passion. When the heart grows 
warm, 
Its flames must quench the flame of its desire, 
Its new-found strength must quell its gathering 
storm. 
Not law, not duty, not the warning voice 

Of saint or angel keeps love's compass true; 
Reckless of Fate love makes its fateful choice: 

To love alone is love's allegiance due. 
Love's power alone can make love's passion pure: 
Love's voice alone can bid love's tumult^ cease: 
Love's pain alone can make love's bliss endure: 
Love's fire alone brings to love's fever peace. 
O love ! inflame my heart, and set it free 
Fn)m every wild unhallowed dream of thee. 
Holmes. 



Be-Kind-to-Me-I-Will-To-Thee 



©1)0 Jirst litBa 

ly A Y fairest love, Rhodanthe, when she found 
* ' *■ I meant indeed to kiss her lips divine, 
Took the bright girdle that her waist had bound 
And held it up between her mouth and mine. 

And as a conduit from a fountain's brink 
Draws the clear stream into another place, 

So Love's sweet nectar I drew up to drink, 
Kissing across the silk that hid her face. 

The rosy lips I sought to meet I missed, 

And touching but the maiden's zone instead, 

My dear Rhodanthe from afar I kissed, 
From her divided by a ribbon red: 

Forced to content myself with only this — 

At least the girdle carried her my kiss- 
Sedgwick, 



Be-Thou-Mine-As-I-Am-Thine 



I WILL not love one minute more, I swear, 
No, not a minute; not a sigh or tear 
Thou gett'st from me, or one kind look again. 
Though thou shouldst court me to't and wouldst 

begin. 
I will not think of thee, but as men do 
Of debts and sins, and then I'll curse thee too: 
For thy sake woman shall be now to me 
Less welcome, than at midnight ghosts shall be: 
I'll hate so perfectly, that it shall be 
Treason to love that man that loves a she; 
Nay, I will hate the very good, I swear. 
That's in thy sex, because it doth lie there; 
Their very virtue, grace, discourse and wit, 
And all for thee; what, wilt thou love me yet? 
Sucklin,s. 



53 



Be-True-As-Fair-Then-Past-Compare 



T ENVY not in any moods 
The captive void and noble rage, 
Tlie linnet born within the cage, 

That never knew the summer woods: 

I envy not the beast that takes 
His license in the field of time 
Unfetter'd by the sense of crime. 
To whom a conscience never wakes; 

Nor, what may count itself as blest, 
The heart that never plighted troth 
The stagnates in the weeds of sloth; 
Nor any want-begotten rest. 

I hold it true, whate'er befall; 

I feel it, when I sorrow most; 

'T is better to have loved and lost 
Than never to have loved at all. 
Tennyson. 



Be-True-To-Me-As-I-To-Thee 



A Erii. Hfii Mose 

/^H, my luve 's like a red, red rose, 
^-^ That 's newly sprung in June: 
Oh, my luve 's like the melodie 
That 's sweetly played in tune. 

As fair art thou, my bonnie la s, 

So deep in luve am I; 
And I will luve thee still, my dear, 

Till a' the seas gang dry. 

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, 
And the rocks melt in the sun, 

I will luve thee still, my dear. 
While the sands o' life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only luve! 

And fare thee weel awhile! 
And I will come again, my luve, 
Though it were ten thousand mile. 
Bnnis. 



Be-True-To-Me-That-Gives-It-Thee 



®n tl|C Utrgina, to Mnkt Mmi^ at ©tntf 

C^ ATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, 
^-^ Old time is still a-flying: 
And this same flower that smiles to-day 
To-morrow will be dying. 

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun. 

The higher he's a-getting. 
The sooner will his race be run, 

And nearer he 's to setting. 

That age is best which is the first, 
When youth and blood are warmer 

But being spent, the worse, and worst 
Times still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time. 
And while ye may go marry: 

For having lost but once your prime 
You may for ever tarry. 
Herrick. 



Be-Truly- Wise-Lest-Death-Surprise 



I|fr Aitsuipr 

/^'ER my darling's cheeks the lashes 
^-^ Fall in trembling modesty, 
Shutting out the loving flashes 
From the eyes so dear to me. 
And, although no word is spoken, 
I am answered by this token. 

O'er my darling's cheeks are stealing 

All the tintings of the roses, 
Love's unfailing sign, revealing 
That in me her heart reposes. 
As the blushes come and go 
Well her answer do I know ! 

On my darling's lip there lingers 

Just a hint of smile enchanting; 
Softly clasped are dainty fingers, 
Swells the bosom, faintly panting. 
Never mind the whispered "yes," 
Love, your answer I can guess! 
Baiim. 



57 



Bcyond-This-Life-Love-Me-Deare-Wife 



"T^HAT which her slender waist confined 
^ Shall now my joyful temples bind : 
No monarch but would give his crown 
His arms might do what this has done. 

It was my Heaven's extremest sphere, 
The pale' which held that lovely dear: 
]My joy, my grief, my hope, my love 
Did all within this circle move. 

A narrow compass! and yet there 
Dwelt all that 's good, and all that 's fair: 
Give me but what this ribband bound, 
Take all the rest the sun goes round. 
Waller. 



58 



Body-and-Minde-I-Thee-I-Finde 



THE fountains mingle with the river, 
And the rivers with the ocean, 
The winds of heaven mix forever 

With a sweet emotion; 
Nothing in the world is single; 

All things by a law divine 
In one another's being mingle — 
Why not I with thine? 

See the mountains kiss high heaven, 

And the waves clasp one another; 
No sister flower would be forgiven 

If it disdained its brother: 
And the sunlight clasps the ear^h, 

And the moonbeams kiss the Sea. 
What are all these kissings worth, 

If thou kiss not me ? 
Shelley. 



Both-Must-Be-One-Or-One-Be-None 



T^RUE Love is but a humble, low-born thing, 
-^ And hath its food served up in earthen ware ; 
It is a thing to walk with, hand in hand, 
Through the every-dayness of this work-day world, 
Baring its tender feet to every roughness, 
Yet letting not one heart-beat go astray 
From Beauty's law of plainness and content; 
A simple, fireside thing, whose quiet smile 
Can warm earth's poorest hovel to a home; 
Which, when our autumn cometh, as it must. 
And life in the chill wind shivers bare and leafless. 
Shall still be blest with Indian-summer youth 
In bleak November, and, with thankful heart, 
Smile on its ample stores of garnered fruit, 
As full of sunshine to our aged eyes 
As when it nursed the blossoms of our spring. 



60 



Both-Or-Neither-Chuse- You- Whether 



Such is true Love, which steals into the heait 
With feet as silent as the li,y;hts()me dawn 
That kisses smooth the rough brows of the dark, 
And hath its will through blissful gentleness, — 
Not like a rocket, which, with savage glare, 
Whirs suddenly up, then bursts, and leaves the night 
Painfully quivering on the dazed eyes; 
A Love that gives and takes, that seeth faults, 
Not with flaw-seeking eyes like needle points, 
But, loving kindly, ever looks them down 
With the o'ercoming faith of meek forgiveness; 
A Love that shall be new and fresh each hour 
As is the golden mystery of sunset. 
Or the sweet coming of the evening star, 
Alike, and yet most unlike, every day. 
And seeming ever best and fairest now. 
Lowell 



By-Cupid's-Bow-My-Weal-Or-Woe 



OHE is a winsome wee thing, 
*^ She is a handsome wee thing, 
She is a bonnie wee thing, 
This sweet wee wife o' mine. 

I never saw a fairer, 
I never lo'ed a dearer, 
And niest my heart IT wear her 
For fear my jewel tine. 

She is a winsome wee thing, 
She is a handsome wee thing, 
She is a bonnie wee thing. 
This sweet wee wife o' mine. 

The warl's wrack we share o't, 
The warstle and the care o't; 
Wi' her I'll blithely bear it, 
And think my lot divine. 
Burns. 



By-God^s-Direction-We-Joyn- Affection 



T IFI^ hath its memories lovely, 
^ That over the heart are blown, 
As over the face of the Autumn 

The light of the summer ilown; 
Rising out of the mist so chilling, 

That oft life's sky enshrouds, 
Like a new moon sweetly filling 

Among the twilight clouds. 

And among them comes, how often, 

Young love's unresting wrailh. 
To lift lost hope out of ruins 

To the gladness of perfect faith; 
Drifting out of the past as lightly 

As winds of the May-time flow: 
And lifting the shadows brightly, 

As the daffodil lifts the snow. 

CdlV. 



63 



By-This-I-Prove-How-Much-l-Love 



SWEET and low, sweet and low, 
Wind of the western sea, 
Low, low, breathe and blow 
Wind of the western sea ! 
Over the rolling waters go, 
Come from the dying moon, and blow, 

Blow him again to me; 
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. 

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, 

Father will come to thee soon; 
Rest, rest, on mother's breast, 

Father will come to thee soon; 
Father will come to his babe in the nest. 
Silver sails all out of the west 

Under the silver moon : 
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleeps. 
Tennyson. 



CarefuI-FIe-Be-To-Comfort-Thee 




r^S^: 



VjTrJA(V\ Hall •' — 



Jrnm " All iFnr fCnup '* 

A NTHONY — How I loved, 
''*■ Witness, ye days and nights, and all ye hours 
That danced away with down upon your feet, 
As all your business were to count my passion. 
One day passed by and nothing saw but love; 
Another came, and still 't was only love; 
The suns were wearied out with looking on, 
And I untired with loving, 
I saw you every day, and all the day, 
And every day was still but as the first; 
So eager was I still to see you more. 
Dry den. 

A LL thoughts, all passions, all delights, 
''*■ Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 
All are but ministers of love, 
And feed his sacred flame. 
Coleridge. 



67 



Constant-And-True-ril-Be-To-You 



^0unrt from tl|? }^0rtu9U0S0 

r~^ O from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand 
^-^ Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore 

Alone upon the threshold of my door 
Of individual life, I shall command 
The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand 

Serenely in the sunshine as before. 

Without the sense of that which I forbore, — 
Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land 
Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine 

With pulses that beat double. What I do 
And what I dream include thee, as the wine 

Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue 
God for myself. He hears that name of thine. 

And sees within my eyes the tears of two. 
Mrs. Brownins.. 



Constant-True-Love-Comes-From-Above 



IVTAY, do not pity me, that not a star 

^ ^ Hangs in the bosom of my stormy sky 

Nor winglet of white feathers flutters by, 
Nor like a soft dream swims or near or far 
The golden atmosphere of poesy. 

Down in the heart from frivolous joys aloof 
Burn the pale fires, whose keen intensity 

Flames through the web of life's discolored woof, 
And lights the white walls of eternity. 

Alas! the ravishment of Love's sweet trust 
May charm my life no more to passion's glow; 

Nor the' light kisses of a lip of dust 
Crimson my forehead with the seal of woe; 
Well, were it otherwise, 'tis better so! 
Cary. 



Constant-You-For-I-Am-True 



®uim ^tara Aloft 

nrWIN stars, aloft in ether clear, 
^ Around each other roll alway, 
Within one common atmosphere 
Of their own mutual light and day. 

And myriad happy eyes are bent 
Upon their changeless love alway; 

As strengthened by their one intent, 
They pour the flood of life and day. 

So we, through this world's waning night. 
Shall, hand in hand, pursue our way; 

Shed round us order, love, and light, 

And shine unto the perfect day. 

Kingsley. 



70 



Content-Indccd-Doth-Gold-Exceed 



C^: 



^ong frnm "Pwa PaHBw" 

YOU'LL love me yet! — and I can tarry 
Your love's protracted growing: 
June reared that bunch of flowers you carry 
From seeds of April's sowing. 

I plant a heartful now — some seed 

At least is sure to strike 
And yield — what you'll not pluck indeed, 

Not love, but, may be, like! 

You'll look at least on love's remains, 

A grave's one violet: 
Your look?— that pays a thousand pains. 

What's death? — You'll love me yet! 
Browning. 



Contented-with-My-Choice 



(i, ®l|at ^on Wnt ^stxxt&tlf 

/~\ THAT you were yourself! but, love, you are 
^-^ No longer yours than you yourself here live: 
Against this coming end you should prepare. 

And your sweet semblance to some other give. 
So should that beauty which you hold in lease 

Find no determination; then you were 
Yourself again, after yourself's decease, 

When 3-our sweet issue your sweet form 
should bear. 
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, 

Which husbandry in honour might uphold 
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day 

And barren rage of death's eternal cold ? 
O, none but unthrifts: dear my love, you know 
You had a father; let your son sav so. 
Shakespeare. 



72 



Dear-Love-Of-Mine-My-Heart-Is-Thine 



I 



(in l^ia Jortuiu* in Slnuiu0 ^tr 

DID not choose thee, dearest. It was Love 
That made the choice, not I. Mine eyes were 
bUnd 
As a rude shepherd's who to some lone grove 

His offerings brings, and cares not at what shrine 
He bends his knee. The gifts alone were mine; 

The rest was Love's. He took me by the hand, 
And fired the sacrifice, and poured the wine, 

And spoke the words I might not understand. 
I was unwise in all but the dear chance 

Which was my fortune, and the blind desire 
Which led my foolish steps to love's abode, 
And youth's sublime unreasoned prescience 
Which raised an altar and inscribed in fire . 
Its dedication "to the unknown god." 
Blunt. 



73 



Death-Never-Parts-Such-Loving-Hearts 



®tjat ®ljou l^aHt l^n 

T^HAT thou hast her, it is not all my grief, ^l'') 

^ And yet it may be said I loved her dearly; 
That she hath thee, is of my wailing chief, 

A loss in love that touches me more nearly. 
Loving offenders, thus will I excuse ye: 

Thou dost love her, because thou know'st I love 
her; 
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me, 

Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her. 
If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain, 

And losing her, my friend hath found that loss; 
Both and each other, and I lose both twain, 

And both for my sake lay on me this cross: 
But here's the joy: my friend and I are one; 
Sweet flattery ! then she loves but me alone. 
Shakespeare. 



Death-Only-Partes-Two-Loving-Hearts 



Banmt 

TRUST me, I have not earned your dear rebuke. 
I love, as you would have me, God the most; 

Would love not you, but Him, must one be lost, 
Nor with Lot's wife cast back a faithless look. 
Unready to forego what I forsook. 

This say I, having counted up the cost; 

This, though I be the feeblest of God's host; 
The sorriest sheep Christ shepherds with His crook. 
Yet while I love my God the most, I deem 

That I can never love you overmuch; 
I love Him more, so let me love you too. 

Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such 
I cannot love you if I love not Him, 
T cannot love Him if I love not you. 
Rosseiti. 



Desire-and-Deserve 



'T^RINK to me only with thine eyes, 
^-^ And I will pledge with mine; 
Or leave a kiss within the cup 

And I'll not look for wine. 
The thirst that from the soul doth" rise 

Doth ask a drink divine; 
But might I of Jove's nectar sup, 

I would not change for thine. 

I sent thee late a rosy wreath. 

Not so much honoring thee 
As giving it a hope that there 

It could not wither 'd be; 
But thou thereon didst only breathe 

And sent'st it back to me; 
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, 

Not of itself but thee ! 
Jonson. 



76 



Desire-Hath-No-Rest 



A lKi03lIitl|m % (Tup 

T^HERE is no gladness in the glass 
^ Unless thou pour for me; 
But taste it first before it pass, 

And I will drink with thee: 
For if those lovely lips of thine 

Have breathed upon the brim, 
I swear that I will drain the wine. 

Although it reach the rim. 

Oh, who could bear to sa\' thee nay. 

When thou hast kissed the cup ? 
Or who would turn the other way ? 

When thou hast filled it up ? 
For oh, the cup has kept the kiss 

And carries me a share, 
To show me all the wasted bliss 

Thy lips have lavished there! 
Scd"wick. 



n 



Desire-Hath-Set-My-Heart-On-Fire 



"/^OOD-NIGHT?" No, love! the night is ill 
^-^ Which severs those it should unite; 

Let us remain together still, — 
Then it will be good night. 

How were the night without thee good, 
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight ? 

Be it not said, thought, understood, — 
Then it will be good night. 

The hearts that on each other beat 
From evening close to morning light 

Have nights as good as they are sweet, 
But never say "Good-night." 
Shelley. 



78 



Desirc-Like-Fire-Doth-Still- Aspire 



(0 iaga m\h i^mtra 

ODAYS and hours, your work is this, 
To hold me from my proper place, 
A little while from his embrace 
For fuller gain of after bliss; 

That out of distance might ensue 
Desire of nearness doubly sweet, 
And unto meeting when we meet 

Delight a hundredfold accrue, 

For every grain of sand that runs, 
And every span of shade that steals, 
And every kiss of toothed wheels 

And all the courses of the suns. 
Tennyson. 



79 



Disire-Not-Me-That-Joyes-In-Thee 



Banxxst from tlj? }^ortu0urB? 

TF I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange 

*^ And be all to me ? Shall I never miss 
Home-talk and blessing, and the common kiss 
That comes to each in turn, nor count It strange, 
\Micn I look up, to drop on a new range 

Of walls and floors — another home than this ? 

Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is 
Filled by dead eyes, too tender to know change ? 
That 's hardest! If to conquer love, has tried. 

To conquer grief tries more — as all things 
prove : 
For grief indeed is love, and grief beside. 

Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love — 
Yet love me — - wilt thou ? Open thine heart wide. 

And fold within the wet wings of thy dove. 
Mrs. Browning. 



Direct-Our-Wayes-Lord-All-Our-Dayes 



N 



ATURE hath crowned thee witli her fairest 



crown : 

Men call thee beautiful in form and face, 
Praise thy dark eyes, thy tresses golden-brown, 

Thy stately height, thy figure's buoyant grace. 
I see these charms, but with another sight. 

As symbols of a charm still unexpressed; — 
See in their loveliness thy spirit's light 

Burning through clouds, — half-hidden, half-con- 
fessed. 
Should I have loved thee hadst thou been less fair? 

\'ain question ! for thy beauty is thine own — 
Thine own — thy self: 'tis because thou art there, 

That all thy grace to fuller grace has grown. 
Thy spirit made thee beautiful, and still 

It moulds thy form and features to its will. 
Holmes. 



Endless-As-This-Shall-Be-Our-BIiss 



2l0Uf Mt a Hittb 

LOVE me a little, love me as thou wilt, 
Whether a draught it be of passionate wine 
Poured with both hands divine, 
Or just a cup of water spilt 
On dying hps and mine. 
Give me the love thou wilt, 
The purity, the guilt. 
So it be thine. 

Love me a httle. Let it be thy cheek 
With its red signals that were dear to kiss, 
Or, if thou mayest not this, 
A finger-tip my own to seek 
At nightfall when none guess. 
Eyes have the wit to speak, 
And sighs send messages: 
Even give less. 



Endlcss-Bee-My-Love-To-Thce 



Love me a little. Let it be in words 

Of happy omen heralding thy choice, 

Or in a veiled sad voice 

Of warning like a frightened bird's. 

How should I not rejoice 

Though swords be crossed with swords 

And discord mar love's chords, 

And tears thy voice? 

Love me a little. All my world thou art. 

Thy much were Heaven: thy little Earth shall be. 

If not Eternity, 

Then Time be mine, the human part, 

A single hour with thee 

Love as thou wilt and art. 

With all or half a heart, 

So thou love me. 

Blunt. 



83 



Etemally-My-Love-Shal-Be 



TT was Maytime, 

^ And I was walking with the man I loved, • 
I loved him, but I thought I was not loved; 
And both were silent, letting the wild brook 
Speak for us, till he stoop'd and gathered one 
From out a bed of thick forget-me-nots, 
Look'd hard and sweet at me and gave it me. 
I took it, tho' I did not know I took it. 
And put it in my bosom, and all at once 
I felt his arm about me, and his lips. 
Tenn vson. 



T LOVE you. Words are small; 
■*■ 'Tis life speaks plain: In twenty years 
Perhaps you may know all. 
Craik. 



84 



Ever-True-My-Dear-To-You 



t^nui l^ts Bt\ni (Ham? Stisnarpb 

MY soul would one day go and seek 
For roses, and in Julia's cheek 
A richesse of those sweets she found, 
As in another Rosamond. 
But gathering roses as she was, 
Not knowing what would come to pass, 
It chanc'd a ringlet of her hair 
Caught my poor soul, as in a snare: 
Which ever since has been in thrall 
Yet freedom, she enjoys withal. 
Her lick. 

(Eupti ^lualUmtcii 

FAITH, I thought him dead. Not he! 
There he lives with tenfold glee; 
And now this moment, with his wings 
I feel him tickling my heart-strings. 
Hunt. 



87 



For-A-Kiss-Take-This 



€1)0 B'flttg of (ill]trtg frars 

nriME, my pretty one, is flying, 
^ Strange that we should meet, 
Where the very road seems dying, 

In its last retreat; 
And the Sun in gloomy splendor, 

Lurks behind the hill, 
E'en a dying day is tender. 

Let me — let me love you still. 

Tho' your glances only fashion 

Ancient memories. 
There is still a depth of passion 

In your liquid eyes; 
If the Sun his brightness loses 

Under autumn skies, 
I can tell what home he chooses. 

Let me — let me read your e}'es. 



God-Hath-Me-Sent-My-Hart's-Content 



Smooth as Parian marble now, 

In a few years more, 
Jealous Time will limn your brow, 

With his tokens o'er, 
And bleach all your locks, my girl, 

Now black as jet; 
Trust me with one glossy curl 

To kiss and fondle yet. 

Very soon a rosy, blushing 

Dimpled cheek like this is, 
Will lose all its joyous flushing 

At my long, long kisses; 
And your lips will lose, my sweetest, 

Their gay golden smile, 
Tho' most fragrant flowers are fleetest, 

Kiss me with these lips awhile. 
Nadaitd. 



89 



God-Saw-Thee-Most-Fit-For-Me 



®1|0 Jirat KxBB 

How delicious is the winning 
Of a kiss at Love's beginning 
When two mutual hearts are sighing 
For the knot there 's no untying! 

Yet remember, 'midst your wooing, 
Love has bliss, but Love has ruing; 
Other smiles may make you fickle, 
Tears for other charms may trickle. 

Love he comes, and Love he tarries. 

Just as fate or fancy carries; 

Longest stays when sorest chidden; 

Laughs and flies, when pressed and bidden. 

Bind the sea to slumber stilly, 
Bind its odor to the lily, 
Bind the aspen ne'er to quiver. 
Then bind Love to last forever! 



90 



God-Send-Her-Me-My-Wife-To-Be 



Love 's a fire that needs renewal 

Of fresh beauty for its fuel; 

Love's wing moults when caged and captured, 

Only free he soars enraptured. 

Can you keep the bee from ranging, 
Or the ring-dove's neck from changing? 
No ! nor fettered Love from dying 
In the knot there 's no untying. 
Campbell. 

(go. IGntirli} Hos0 

Go, lovely rose! 
Tell her, that wastes her time and me, 
That now she knows. 
When I resemble her to thee. 

How sweet and fair she seems to be, 
Waller. 



God's-Directions-Joined-Our- Affections 



r\ NEVER say that I was false of lieart, 

^-^ Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify: 

As easy might I from myself depart 

As for my soul, which in thy breast doth lie; 
That is my home of love; if I have ranged, 

Like him that travels, I return again, 
Just to the time, not with the time unchanged, 

So that myself bring water for my stain. 
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd 

All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood, 
That it could so preposterously be stain'd 

To leave for nothing all thy sum of good: 
For nothing this wide universe I call, 
Save thou, my rose: in it thou art my all. 
Shakespeare. 



God's-Gift-Thou-Art-My-Dearest-Heart 



31 maij iwt ICnue (ilt|pf 

1MAY not love thee." "May not!" but I do: 
This is my title to the crown of love, — 
A title which each heart-beat doth renew, — 

A title ancient as the stars above. 
"I may not love thee." "May not!" but I must: 

^^"hcn Natures' mightiest forces are at i)lay. 
The ship, o'ermastered by the whirling gust, 

Forgets its course and wanders far astray. 
"I may not love thee." "May not!" but I will: 

:srv soul loves thine and glories in love's name,— 
Itself its arbiter of good and ill, — 

Itself the well-spring of its ardent flame. 
I may not love thee, my Beloved! but still 
Love thee I do, I must, I ever will. 
Holmes. 



93 



God's-Intent-None-Can-Prevent 



A 5inman'0 Ausuirr 

T LOVE, too, to be loved; all loving praise 

Seems like a crown upon my Life, to make 
It better worth the giving, and to raise 

Still nearer to your own the heart you take. 

I love all good and noble souls; I heard 
One speak of you but lately, and for days. 

Only to think of it, my soul was stirred 
In tender memory of such generous praise. 

I love all those who love you, all who owe 
Comfort to you; and I can fmd regret 

Even for those poorer hearts who once could know, 
And once could love you, and can now forget. 

Will you be jealous ? Did you guess before 
I loved so many things? Still you the best; 

Dearest, remember that I love you more. 

Oh, more a thousand times, than all the rest! 
Procter. 



94 



Great-Dundee-For-God-And-Me 



V\7HAT has life taught me? Will the Judge 
^^ Most High, 

When dawns His splendour on death's deepest 
gloom, 
Ask me this question, and with searching eye 
Read in my heart my answer and my doom ? 

when I stand before God's judgment seat, 
Before his throne of glory and of grace. 

With what confession shall I dare to meet 
The sad, the stern reproaches of His face ? 

What did I learn? My passions to control. 
To conquer self, to quench the fire of lust, 

To seek Thy will, to purify my soul ? — 

Not these alas ! but O Thou Judge Most Just ! 

Thou God of love! I learned thy mystic lore; — 

1 learned to love, once and forevermore. 

Holmes. 



Great-Joye-In-Thee-Continuafly 



Almonii ^lflS0oma 

'T^HE almond blossoms on this tree 
^ As emblems of thy charms were made; 
The flowers of life, my sweet, like thee; 
Yet ere the summer's gone they fade. 

E'en let us pluck them as we will. 
In Love's soft hands they die away. 

And, leaf by leaf, they perish still. 
Like our short pleasures, day by day. 

So let us take them in their prime, 

Dispute them from the zephyr's breath, 

Enjoy the fragrance while we've time 
Of perfume soon to fade in death; 

For beauty often, as it flies. 

Is like some rosy morning flower. 

Which withers in the wreath, and dies 
A while before the festal hour. 



96 



Grieve-Not-His-Heart-Whose-Joy-Thou-Art 



Each day must die when once ' tis born, 
Each spring-time blushing fresh and coy, 

Yet each flower on the lap of morn 
But bids us hasten to enjoy. 

And so, since all we love and cherish 
Must fade when most we feel its bliss, 

Let, let the glowing roses perish. 

But only 'neath Love's lingering kiss. 
Lamartine. 

iEroa 

"T^HE sense of the world is short, — 
* Long and various the report, — 

To love and be beloved; 
Men and gods have not outlearned it; 
And, how oft soe'er they 've turned it, 
'Tis not to be improved. 
Emerson. 



97 



Happy-In-Thee-Has-God-Made-Me 



A 



A %art for lEurrg Wm r>^ 

H, there's a heart for every one, 



If every one could find it; 
Then up and seek, ere youth is gone, 

Whate'er the toil, ne'er mind it; 
For if you chance to meet at last 

With that one heart, intended 
To be a blessing unsurpassed, 

Till life itself is ended, 
How would you prize the labour done, 

How grieve if you resigned it; 
For there' s a heart for every one. 

If every one could find it ! 

Two hearts are made, the angels say. 

To suit each other dearly; 
But each one takes a different way, — 

A way not found so clearly! 



Hearts-Content-Can-Nere-Repent 



Yet though we seek, and seek for years, 

The pains are worth the taking, 
For what the Hfe of home endears 

Like hearts of Angel's making? 
Then haste, and guard the treasure now, 

When fondly you've enshrined it, 
For there's a heart for every one. 

If every one could find it. 
Swaiit. 

I^nui Eufica (Eamc iRpii 

O OSES at first were white, 
^ ^ Till they could not agree, 
W'hether my Sappho's breast 

Or they more white should be 
But, being vanquish'd quite, 

A blush their cheeks bespread; 
Since which, believe the rest. 
The roses first came red. 
Herrick. 

LOFC. 



Hearts-Truly-Tied-None-Can-Devidc 



(§ Npar (inp0, iear (§twfi 

C~\ NEx^R ones, dear ones', you, in whose right 
^-^ hands 

Our own rests calm; whose faithful hearts all day 
Wide open wait till back from distant lands 

Thought, the tired traveller, wends his homeward 
way! 
Helpmates and hearthmates, gladdeners of gone 
years, 

Tender companions of our serious days, 
Who color with your kisses, smiles, and tears. 

Life's warm web woven over wonted ways. 

Young children, and old neighbors, and old friends, 
Old servants, — you, whose smilling circle small 

Grows slowly smaller, till at last it ends 
Where in one grave is room enough for all; 



I-Am-Your-Friend-Unto-The-End 



Oh, shut the world out from the heart you cheer! 

Though small the circle of your smile may be, 
The world is distant, and your smiles are near; 

This makes you more than all the world to me. 
Bulwer-Lytton. 

iFrmn "®l)c JlrinrpfiB" 

As thro' he land at eve we went, 
And pluck'd the ripen'd ears, 
We fell out, my wife and I, 
O we fell out, I know not why. 

And kiss'd again with tears. 
For when we came where lies the child 

We lost in other years, 
There above the little grave, 
O there above the little grave, 
We kiss'd again with tears. 
Tennyson. 



I-Am-Your-Lott-Refuse-Me-not 



Jrom **®lje An^el in H}i l^oua^" 

T^HEN to my room 

•^ I went, and closed and lock'd the door, 
And cast myself down on my bed 

And there, with many a blissful tear, 
I vow'd to love, and pray'd to wed 

The maiden who had grown so dear; 
Thank'd God who had set her in my path. 

And promised as I hoped to win, 
I never would sully my faith 

By the least selfishness or sin; 
Whatever in her sight I'd seem, 

I'd really be; I 'd never blend 
With my delight in her a dream 

'T would change her cheek to comprehend; 

And, if she wished it, I'd prefer 
Another's to mv own success; 



I-Am-Yurcs-Whil-Lyfe-Endures 



And always seek the best for her 

With unotlicious tenderness. 
Rising, I breathed a brighter chme, 

And found myseh' all self above, 
And, with a charity sublime, 

Contemned not those who did not love; 
And I could not but feel that then 

I shone with something of her grace, 
And went forth to my fellow-men 

My commendation in my face. 
Patmore. 

All— All tfl ICnue 

To idealize our very dreams — 
Women v^rere given us for this, 
And every power in nature seems 
To teach us how to love and kiss. 
Hugo. 



103 



I-Bid-Adieu-To-AIl-But-You 



She was a phantom of delight, 

When first she gleamed upon my sight; 

A lovely apparition sent 

To be a moment's ornament; 

Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; 

Like Twilight's too, her dusky hair; 

But all things else about her drawn 

From May-time and the cheerful dawn; 

A dancing shape, an image gay, 

To haunt, to startle, and waylay. 

I saw her upon nearer view, 

A spirit, yet a woman too. 

Her household motions light and free. 

And steps of virgin-liberty; 

A countenance in which did meet 

Sweet records, promises as sweet; 



I-Cannot-Show-The-Love-I-Owe 



A creature not too bright or good 

For human nature's daily food, 

For transient sorrows, simple wiles, 

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles. 

And now I see with eyes serene 
The very pulse of the machine, 
A being breathing thoughtful breath 
A traveler between life and death; 
The reason firm, the temperate will, 
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill; 
A perfect woman, nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command; 
And yet a spirit still, and bright. 
With something of an angel light. 
Wordsworth. 



107 



I-Do-Rejoyce-In-Thee-My-Choycc 



yrn ®ljou Art Nrar Mt 

\1 /"HEN thou art near me, 

" Sorrow seems to fly, 
And then I think, as well I may, 
That on this earth there is no one 
More blest than I. 

But when thou leav'st me, 

Doubts and fears arise. 
And darkness reigns. 

Where all before was light. 
The sunshine of my soul 

Is in those eyes, 
And when they leave me 

All the world is night. 

But when thou art near me, 

Sorrow seems to fly. 
And then I feel, as well I may. 
That on this earth there dwells not 

One so blest as I. 
Scott. 



io8 



I-Fancy-None-But-Thee-AIone 



m}t Wtxiksi ttt Irautij 

SHE walks in beauty, like the night 
Of cloudless climes and starry skies, 
And all that's best of dark and bright 

Meet in her aspect, and her eyes. 
Thus mellowed to that tender light 
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less, 
Had half-impaired the nameless grace 

Which waves in every raven tress 
Or softly lightens o'er her face, 

Where thoughts serenely sweet express 
How pure, how dear, their dwelling-place. 

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow 

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent. 
The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 

But tell of days in goodness spent,— 
A mind at peace with all below, 

A heart whose love is innocent. 
Byron. 



log 



I-Givc-It-Thee-My-Love-To-Be 



T OVE thee? — -so well, so tenderly 
'^ Thou 'rt loved, adored by me. 
Fame, fortune, wealth, and liberty, 

Were worthless without thee. 
Though brimm'd with blessings, pure and rare, 

Life's cup before me lay. 
Unless thy love were mingled there, 

I'd spurn the draught away. 
Love thee ? — so well, so tenderly 

Thou 'rt loved, adored by me. 
Fame, fortune, wealth, and liberty. 

Were worthless without thee. 
W^ithout thy smile, the monarch's lot 

To me were dark and lone, 
While, with it, even the humblest cot 

Were brighter than his throne. 



I-Give-It-Thee-To-Think-On-Mc 



Those worlds, for which the conqueror sighs, 

For me would have no charms: 
My only world thy gentle eyes — 

My throne thy circling arms ! ""-'^J. 

Oh, yes, so well, so tenderly * 

Thou 'rt loved, adored by me, 
Whole realms of light and liberty 

Were worthless without thee. 
Moore. 

SHE laughed— she climbed the giddy height 
I held that climber small; 
I even held her rather tight, 

For fear that she should fall. 
A dozen girls were chirping round, 

Like five and twenty linnets,— 
I must have held her, I '11 be bound. 
Some five and twenty minutes. 
Locker. 



I-Have-Obtained-Whom-God-Ordained 



T N the night she told a story, 

In the night and all night through, 
While the moon was in her glorv, 
And the branches dropped with dew. 

'Twas my life she told, and round it 
Rose the years as from a deep ; 

In the world's great heart she found it, 
Cradled like a child asleep. 

In the night I saw her weaving 
By the misty moonbeam cold, 

All the weft her shuttle cleaving 
With a sacred thread of gold. 

Ah! she wept me tears of sorrow 
Lulling tears so mystic sweet; 

Then she wove my last to-morrow, 
And her web lay at my feet. 



I-Joy-In-Thee-Joy-Thou-In-Me 



Of my life she made the story: 
I must weep — so soon 'twas told ! 

But your name did lend it glory, 
And your love its thread of gold ! 
Ingelow. 

OFTEN I have heard it said 
That her lips are ruby-red. 
Little heed I what they say, 
I have seen as red as they. 
Ere she smiled on other men, 
Real rubies were they then. 

When she kist me once in play, 
Rubies were less bright than they. 
And less bright were those which shone 
In the palace of the Sun. 

Will they be as bright again? 
Not if kist by other men. 
Landor. 



"3 



I-Joy-To-Find-A-Constant-Mind 



C YES of gray — a sodden quay, 
*~^ Driving rain and falling tears. 
As the steamer wears to sea 
In a parting storm of cheers. 

Sing, for Faith and Hope are high - 
None so true as you and I — 
Sing the Lovers' Litany: — 
"Love like ours can never die!" 

Eyes of black — a throbbing keel, 

Milky foam to left and right; 
Whispered converse near the wheel 
In the brilliant tropic night. 

Cross that rules the Southern Sky! 
Stars that sweep and wheel and fly 
Hear the Lovers' Litany: — 
"Love like ours can never die!" 



I-Likc-I-Love-As-Turtlc-Dove 



Eyes of brown — a dusty plain 

Split and parched with heat of June, 
Flying hoof and tightened rein, 
Hearts that beat the old, old tune. 
Side by side the horses fly, 
Frame we now the old reply 
Of the Lovers' Litany: — 
"Love like ours can never die!" 

Eyes of blue — the Simla Hills 

Silvered with the moonlight hoar; 
Pleading of the waltz that thrills, 
Dies and echoes round Benmore. 
" Mabel," " Ofiacers," " Good-by, " 
Glamour, wine, and witchery — 
On my soul's sincerity, 
"Love like ours can never die!" 



"5 



I-Likc-My-Choice-And-Do-Rejoyce 



Maidens, of your charity, 
Pity my most luckless state. 
Four times Cupid's debtor I — 
Bankrupt in quadruplicate. 
Yet, despite this evil case. 
And a maiden showed me grace, 
Four-and-forty times would I 
Sing the Lovers' Litany: — 
"Love like ours can never die!" 
Kipling. 

ROSE kissed me to-day. 
Will she kiss me to-morrow ? 
Let it be as it may. 
Rose kissed me to-day. 
But the pleasure gives way 

To a savor of sorrow. 
Rose kissed me to-day- 
Will she kiss me to-morrow ? 
Dohson. 



ii6 



I-Live-And-Dy-In-Loyaltye 



EACH on his own strict line we move 
And some find death ere they find love; 
So far apart their lives are thrown 
From the twin soul that halves their own. 
And sometimes, by still harder fate, 
The lovers meet, but meet too late. 
—Thy heart is mine!— true, true! ah, true! 
—Then, love, thy hand!— ah, no! Adieu! 
A mold. 



®0 



I 



FEAR thy kisses, gentle maiden, 
Thou needest not fear mine; 
My spirit is too deeply laden 
Ever to burden thine. 

I fear thy mien, thy tones, thy motion, 
Thou needest not fear mine; 

Innocent is the heart's devotion 
With which I worship thine. 
Shelley. 



"7 



I-Live-If-Aye-If-No-I-Die 



OHE has laughed as softly as if she sighed! 

*^ She has counted six and over. 

Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried^ 

Oh, each a worthy lover! 
They "give her time"; for her soul must slip 

Where the world has set the grooving; 
She will lie to none with her fair red lip, — 

But love seeks truer loving. 

She trembles her fan in a sweetness dumb, 

As her thoughts were beyond recalling; 
With a glance for one and a glance for some, 

From her eyelids rising and falling, 
— Speaks common words with a blushful air; 

— Hears bold words, unreproving! 
But her silence says, — what she never will swear. 

And love seeks better loving. 



! M 



ii8 



I-Scek-To-Be-Not-Thine-But-Thee 



Go, lady! lean to the night-guitar, 
And drop a smile to the bringer; 
Then smile as sweetly, when he is far, 

At the voice of an indoor singer; 
Bask tenderly beneath tender eyes; 

Glance lightly, on their removing, 
And join new vows to old perjuries,— 

But dare not call it loving ! 
Unless you can think, when the song is done, 

No other is soft in the rhythm; 
Unless you can feel, when left by One, 

That' all men else go with him; 
Unless you can know when unpraised by his 
breath 
That your beauty itself wants proving; 
Unless you can swear -"For life, for death!" 
Oh, fear to call it loving! 



119 



I-Shall-In-Thee-Most-Happy-Be 



Unless you can muse in a crowd all day, 

On the absent face that fixed you; 
Unless you can love, as the angels may. 

With the breadth of heaven betwixt you; 
Unless you can dream that his faith is fast. 

Though behooving and unbehooving; 
Unless you can die when the dream is past, — 

Oh, never call it loving. 

Mrs. Browning. 

Uprnlbrttfltifl 

\1 /'HEN age chills the blood, when our pleasures 
' are past — 

For years fleet away with the wings of the 
dove — 
The dearest remembrance will still be the last. 
Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love. 
Byron. 



I-Will-Be-True-Always-To-You 



l\ A AN'S love is of man's life a thing apart, 

^ ' *^ 'T is woman's whole existence; man may 

range 
The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the 
mart, 
Sword, gown, gain, glory, ofifer in exchange, 
Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart, 

And few there are whom these cannot estrange; 
Men have all these resources, we but one. 
To love again, and be again undone. 
Byron. 

l|fart*s-iEas? 

T^HERE is a flower I wish to wear, 
•^ But not until first worn by you . . 
Heart's-ease . . of all earth's flowers most rare 
Bring it; and bring enough for two. 
Landor. 



I- Will-Remain- AIways-The-Samc 



/^H, Beauty, passing beauty! sweetest Sweet! 
^-^How canst thou let me waste my youth in 

sighs ? 
I only ask to sit beside thy feet. 

Thou knowest I dare not look into thine eyes, 
Might I but kiss thy hand! I dare not fold 

My arms about thee — scarcely dare to speak. 
And nothing seems to me so wild and bold, 

As with one kiss to touch thy blessed cheek. 
Methinks if I should kiss thee, no control 

Within the thrilling brain could keep afloat 
The subtle spirit. Even while I spoke, 

The bare word kiss hath made my inner soul 
To tremble like a lutestring, ere the note 

Hath melted in the silence that it broke. 
Tennyson. 



I-Will-You-Trewelic-Serve 



\1 yHEN to the sessions of sweet silent thought 
I summon up remembrance of things past, 
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, 
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste. 
Then can 1 drown an eye, unused to flow, 
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, 
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, 
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight: 
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone. 
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er 
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 
Which I new pay as if not paid before. 
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend. 
All losses are restored and sorrows end. 
Shakespeare. 



123 



I-Wish-To-Thee-All-Joie-May-Be 



iFrum **(ill)r Ban^ at l^iauiall)a** 

T^HUS continued Hiawatha, 
■^ And then added, speaking slowly, 
"That this peace may last forever, 
And our hands be clasped more closely, 
And our hearts be more united, 
Give me as my wife this maiden, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
Loveliest of Dacotah women!" 

And the ancient Arrow-maker 
Paused a moment ere he answered, 
Smoked a little while in silence, 
Looked at Hiawatha proudly. 
Fondly looked at Laughing Water, 
And made answer very gravely: 
"Yes, if Minnehaha wishes; 
Let your heart speak, Minnehaha!" 
And the lovely Laughing Water 
Seemed more lovely, as she stood 
there, 



124 



If-I-Survive-I- Will-Have-Five 



Neither willing nor reluctant, 
As she went to Hiawatha, 
Softly took the seat beside him, 
While she said, and blushed to say it, 
"I will follow you, my husband!" 

This was Hiawatha's wooing! 
Thus it was he won the daughter 
Of the ancient Arrow-maker, 
In the land of the Dacotahs! 

From the wigwam he departed. 
Leading with him Laughing Water; 
Hand in hand they went together, 
Through the woodland and the meadow, 
Left the old man standing lonely 
At the doorway of his wigwam, 
Heard the Falls of Minnehaha 

Calling to them from the distance, 

Crying to them from afar off, 
"Fare thee well, O Minnehaha!" 
Longjellow. 



15>7 



If-You-Deny-I-Wish-To-Die 



A QII|atn 

'T^HE bond that links our souls together, 
^ Will it last through stormy weather ? 
Will it moulder and decay 
As the long hours pass away? 
Will it stretch if Fate divide us, 
When dark and weary hours have tried us? 
Oh, if it look too poor and slight. 
Let us break the links to-night ! 

It was not forged by mortal hands. 

Or clasped with golden bars and bands; 

Save thine and mine, no other eyes 

The slender link can recognize: 

In the bright light it seems to fade. 

And it is hidden in the shade; 

While Heaven nor Earth have never heard 

Or solemn vow or plighted word. 



128 



If-You-Deny-Then-Sure-I-Dyc 



Yet what no mortal hand could make, 
No mortal power can ever break: 
What words or vows could never do, 
No words or vows can make untrue; 
And, if to other hearts unknown, 
The dearer and the more our own. 
Because too sacred and divine 
For other eyes, save thine and mine. 

And see ! though slender, it is made 
Of Love. and Trust, and can they fade? 
While, if too slight it seem, to bear 
The breathings of the summer air. 
We know that it could bear the weight 
Of a most heavy heart of late. 
And as each day and hour flew 
The stronger for its burthen grew, 



I2tf 



In-Constancie-I-Livc-And-Die 



And, too, we know and feel again 
It has been sanctified by pain; 
For what God deigns to try with sorrow 
He means not to decay to-morrow; 
But through that fiery trial last, 
When earthly ties and bonds are past; 
What slighter things dare not endure 
Will make our Love more safe and pure. 

Love shall be purified by Pain, 
And Pain be soothed by Love again: 
So let us now take heart and go 
Cheerfully on through joy and woe: 
No change the summer sun can bring, 
Or the inconstant skies of spring. 
Or the bleak winter's stormy weather. 
For we shall meet them, Love, together. 
Procter. 



130 



In-God-And-Thee-AII-Comfort-Bee 



iFrnm "l^prn aitb ICrantipr" 

TT lies not in our power to love or hate, 
'■ For will in us is overruled by fate. 
When two are stripped, long ere the race begin, 
We wish that one should lose, the other win 
And one especially do we affect 
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect. 
The reason no man knows: let it suffice 
\\'hat we behold is censured by our eyes; 
Where doth deliberate, the love is slight: 
Whoever loved, who loved not at first sight ! 
Marlowe. 

(Lilt Wnt ^ou ICuufii tl}t Irat 

/^H, love, love well, but only once! for never 
^-^ shall the dream 

Of youthful hope return again on life's dark 
rolling stream. 

Nor I on. 



In-Love-At-Night-Is-My-Delight 



MAID of Athens, ere we part, 
Give, oh, give me back my heart! 
Or, since that has left my breast, 
Keep it now, and take the rest! 
Hear my vow before I go, 
My dearest Hfe, I love thee. 

By those tresses unconfined. 
Wooed by each ^gean wind; 
By those lids whose jetty fringe 
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge; 
By those wild eyes like the roe, 
My dearest life, I love thee. 

By that lip I long to taste; 
By that zone-encircled waist; 
By all the token-flowers that tell 
What words can never speak so well; 
By love's alternate joy and woe, 
My dearest hfe, I love thee. 



132 



In-Love^s-Delight-Spend-Day-And-Night 



Maid of Athens! I am gone; 
Think of me, sweet! when alone. 
Though I fly to Istambol, 
Athens holds my heart and soul; 
Can I cease to love thee? No! 
My dearest life, I love thee. 
Byron. 

'T'HE night has a thousand eyes, 
■^ And the day but one, 
Yet the light of the bright world dies 
With the dying sun. 

The mind has a thousand eyes. 

And the heart but one. 
Yet the light of a whole life dies 

When love is done. 

Bourdillon. 



133 



In-Thee-A-Flame-In-Me-The-Same 



DIRDS in the high Hall-garden, 
'-^ When twilight was falling, 
Maud, Maud, Maud, Maud, 
They were crying and calling. 

Where was Maud? In our wood; 

And I, who else, was with her. 
Gathering woodland lilies, 

Myriads blow together. 

Birds in our wood sang. 
Ringing thro' the valleys, 

Maud is here, here, here 
In among the lilies. 

I kiss'd her slender hand, 
She took the kiss sedately; 

Maud is not seventeen. 
But she is tall and stately. 



134 



In-Thee-My-Choyce-I-Doe-Rejoyce 



I to cry out on pride 

Who have won her favour! 
O Maud were sure of Heaven 

If lowliness could save her. 
Tennyson. 



T 



ICuurra 

wo young fair lovers, 



Where the warm June wind, 
Fresh from the sunny fields, 
Plays fondly round them, 
Stand, tranced in joy, 

With sweet, join'd voices, 
And with eyes brimming; 
"Ah," they cry, "Destiny, 
Prolong the present ! 
Time, stand still here!" 
Arnold. 



135 



In-Thy-Breast-My-Heart-Dost-Rest 



"/^H! take this flow'r, dear love," said he, 
^-^ He spake with a tearful sigh. 

That night he was going across the sea, 
And this was his last good-by. 

She took the gift with a mocking smile, 
In the flush of her maiden pride. 

With heartless guile she dallied a while, 
Then threw the flower aside. 

"Give me a flow'r, dear love," said he, 

She threw the flow'r he craved, 
"Now by the love I have for thee 

My breaking heart is saved." 

He kissed it once with a tender sigh, 
And treasured it near his heart, — 
"Tho' years roll by this flower and I 
Shall never, never part." 



136 



In-Thy-Sight-Is-My-Delight 



They met again in the after years, 

In Hfe's sad sorrowful time; 
Their heads were heavy with age and tears, 

And white with the winter rime. 

He found the flow'r she scorned in play 

At her faithful heart did dwell; 
His flow'r, they say, he had cast away 

Before its petals fell. 

Oh, love for a year,— a week — a day — 
But alas for the love that loves alway,— 

Oh, love for a year,— a week — a day — 
But alas ! alas for the love that loves alway. 
Gilbert. 

WHAT need of words when lovers meet ? 
What need of sighs and glances sweet, 
As long as faithful hearts can beat ? 
Siva in. 



137 



In-Trust-Be-Juste 



ICilar nnh (^olb txnli (^tstn 

SONG 

T ILAC and gold and green! 

*~^ Those are the colours I love the best, 

Spring's own raiment untouched and clean, 

When the world is awake and yet hardly dressed, 

And the stranger sun, her bridegroom shy. 

Looks at her bosom and wonders why 

She is so beautiful, he so blest. 

Lilac and green and gold! 
Those were the colours you wore to-day. 
Robed you were in them fold on fold. 
Clothed in the light of your love's delay. 
And I held you thus in my arms, once only, 
And wondered still, as you left me lonely. 
How the world's beautv was changed to grev. 



138 



In-Unitie-Let^s-Livc-And-Dy 



Lilac and gold and green! 

I would die for the truth of those colours true: 
Lilac for loyalty, gold for my queen, 
And green the faith of m}- love for you. 
Here is a posy of all the three: 
My heart is with it, so think of me, 
And our weeping skies shall once more be blue. 
Blunt. 



A (Cnurrtt 

\/OU touched my heart; it gave a thrill 

^ Just like a rose 

That opens at a lady's will; 
Its bloom is always yours, until 
You bid it close. 
Collins 



i3g 



Joy-And-Care-Let-Us-Take-Share 



T N the year that 's come and gone, Love, his fly- 

*^ ing feather, 

Stooping slowly, gave us heart, and bade us walk 

together. 
In the year that 's coming on, though many a troth 

be broken. 
We at least will not forget aught that Love hath 

spoken. 

In the vears that 's come and gone, dear, we wove a 

tether 
All of gracious words and thougnts, binding two 

together. 
In the year that 's coming on, with its wealth of 

roses. 
We shall weave it stronger yet, ere the circle closes. 



Joy-In-None-But- You- Alone 



In the year that 's come and gone, in the golden 

weather, 
Sweet, my sweet, we swore to keej) the watch of 

life together. 
In the year that 's coming on, rich in joy and sorrow, 
We shall light our lamp, and wait life's mysterious 

morrow. 

Henley. 

Jrnm *%\]^ ^ilrnt ICnurr" 

ASSIGNS are likened best to floods and 



P 



streams; 

The shallows murmur, but the deeps are dumb; 
So, when affections yield discourse, it seems 

The bottom is but shallow whence they come. 
They that are rich in words, in words discover 
That they are poor in that which makes a lover. 
Raleiiih. 



Joye-Day-And-Night-Bec-Our-Delight 



ICoupra 

A CRASH of boughs! — one through ihera 
■**■ breaking I 

Mercy is startled, and fain would fly, 
But e'en as she turns, her steps o'ertaking, 

He pleads with her, "Mercy, it is but I! 

"Mercy!"' he touches her hand unbidden, — 
"The air is balmy, I pray you stay, — 

Mercy?" Her downcast eyes are hidden. 
And never a word she has to say, 

Till closer drawn, her prison'd fingers 

He takes to his lips with a yearning strong, 

And she murmurs low, that late she lingers, 
Her mother will want her and think her long. 



142 



Keepe-Fayth-Till-Deth 



"Good mother is she! then honor duly 
The Hghtest wish in her hearL that stirs; 

But there is a bond yet dearer truly, 
And there is a love that passeLh hers. 

"Mercy, Mercy!" Her heart attendeth, — 
Love's birthday blush on her brow lies sweet, 

She turns her face when his own he bendeth, 
And the lips of the youth and the maiden meet. 
Ingelow. 

iiyrrl)a 

[ 'M thinking, my sweet Myrrha, 
^ Of that happy time in youth; 
When all the world appeared like thee. 
In innocence and truth. 
Gary. 



14^ 



Knotts-Of-Lovc-Are-Knitt-Above 



A S I came in by our gate end, 
^^ As day was waxin' weary, 
O wha came tripping down the street, 
But bonnie Peg, my dearie! 

Her air sac sweet, and shape complete, 
Wi' nae proportion wanting, 

The Queen of Love did never move 
Wi' motion mair enchanting. 

Wi' linked hands we took the sands 

Adown yon winding river; 
And, oh! that hour and broomy bower, 

Can I forget it ever? 
Burns. 



144 



Let-Friend-Nor-Foe-This-Secret-Know 



A iJioxit ICrssmt 

A SWEET "No, no," with a sweet smile beneath, 
**• Becomes an honest girl; I'd have you learn 

it:— 
As for plain "Yes," it may be said i' faith 
Too plainly and too oft: — pray well discern it — 
Not that I'd have my pleasure incomplete 
Or lose the kiss for which my lips beset you; 
But that in suffering me to take it, sweet, 
I'd have you say, "No, no, I will not let you." 
Hunt. 

Jrom "(imar 4KI|amjtam" 

A BOOK of Verses underneath the Bough, 
■^*- A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 

Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! 
Fitzgerald. 



147 



Let-Lykinge-Laste 



Sefianre 

^ ATCH her and hold her if you can — 
^^ See, she defies you with her fan, 
Shuts, opens, and then holds it spread 
In threat'ning guise above your head. 
Ah! why did you not start before 
She reacht the porch and closed the door? 
Simpleton! will you never learn 
That girls and time will not return; 
Of each you should have made the most, 
Once gone, they are forever lost. 
In vain your knuckles knock your brow. 
In vain will you remember how 
Like a slim brook the gamesome maid 
Sparkled, and ran into the shade. 
Laiidor. 



148 



Let-Love-Abide-Till-Death-Devide 



L 



OVE comes back to his vacant dwelling — 

The old, old Love we knew of yore I 
We see him stand by the open door, 
With his great eyes sad and his bosom swelling. 

He makes as though in our arms repelUng, 
He fain would lie as he lay before; — 

Love comes back to his vacant dwelling — 
The old, old Love we knew of yorel 

Ah, who shall help us from overtelling 
That sweet forgotten, forbidden lore! 
E'en as we doubt in our hearts once more, 
With a rush of tears to our eyelids welling, 
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling. 
Dobson. 



149 



Let-Love-Devine-Our-Hearts-Entwine 



^oitg from "A lllnt nn % *^rutd)pmi" 

"T^HERE 'S a woman like a dewdrop, she 's so 
* purer than the purest; 
And her noble heart 's the noblest, yes, and her 

sure faith 's the surest. 
And her eyes are dark and humid, like the depth 

on depth of lustre 
Hid i' the harebell, while her tresses, sunnier than 

the wild-grape cluster. 
Gush in golden-tinted plenty down her neck's 

rose-misted marble: 

Then her voice's music . . . call it the well's 

bubbling, the bird's warble! 
And this woman says, "My days were sunless 

and my nights were moonless. 
Parched the pleasant April herbage, and the lark's 

heart's outbreak tuneless. 



150 



Let-Mee-In-Thee-Most-Happy-Bee 



If you loved me not!" And I who — (ah, for 

words of llame !) adore her ! 
Who am mad to lay my spirit prostrate palpably 

before her — 
I may enter at her portal soon, as now her lattice 

takes me, 
And by noontide as by midnight make her mine, 

as hers she makes me ! 
Browning 

Unuf Mt ICtttlr, ICnnP Mt ICnmj 

You say, to me-wards your affection's strong; 
Pray love me little, so you love me long. 
Slowly goes far: the mean is best: desire. 
Grown violent, does either die or tire. 
Herrick. 



151 



Let-Me-Serve-Till-I-Deserve 



TT is not because your heart is mine, mine only, 

*■ Mine alone; 

It is not because you chose me, weak and lonely, 

For your own; 
Not because the earth is fairer, and the skies 

Spread above you 
Are more radiant for the shining of your eyes. 

That I love you! 

It is not because the world's perplexed meaning 

Grows more clear; 
And the Parapets of Heaven, with angels leaning. 

Seem more near; 
And Nature sings of praise with all her voices 

Since yours spoke, 
Since within my silent heart, that now rejoices, 

Love awoke! 



152 



Lct-Me-With-Thee-Ful-Happy-Bee 



Nav, not even because your hand holds heart and 
hfe; 

At your will 
Soothing, hushing all its discord, making strife 

Calm and still; 
Teaching Trust to fold her wings, nor ever roam 

From her nest; 
Teaching Love that her securest, safest home 

Must be Rest. 
But because this human Love,though true and sweet, 

Yours and mine, — 
Has been sent by Love more tender, more complete, 

More divine, 
That it leads our hearts to rest at last in Heaven, 

Far above you; 
Do I take you as a gift that God has given— 

And I love you! 

Procter. 



XS3 



Let-Our-Contest-Bee-Who-Loves-Best 



DEAR Elpis, all my thoughts and all my wishes ; 

are for thee — i / \ 

Well be it with my sweetest girl, if so indeed it be 
That aught may -e'er be well with her, when she 

is far from me. 
Alone, and all unmated, by thy shining eyes, I 

swear 
This solitary life of mine no longer I can bear: 
There is no rest or peace for me without thee, 

anywhere. 
I cannot see the palaces or towers for my tears; 
The landscape, too, is blotted with a mist that 

never clears; 
All dim and pale the temple of great Artemis 

appears. 
To-morrow I am going home; ah, gods, what 

happiness ! 



154 



Let-Us-Contest-Which-Shall-Love-Best 



And when against my heart again, thee, dear 

one, I shall press, 
A thousand times I'll kiss thee, and a thousand 

times caress. 

Sedgwick. 

A Dittg 

MY true love hath my heart, and I have his, 
By just exchange one for another given: 
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss, 

There never was a better bargain driven: 
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his. 

His heart in me keeps him and me in one, 
]My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides : 

He loves my heart, for once it was his own, 
I cherish his because in me it bides: 

My true love hath my heart, and I have his. 
Sidney. 



155 



Let-Us-Love-Like-Turtle-Dove 



I CANNOT love you, love, as you love me, 
In singleness of soul, and faith untried. 
I have no faith in any destiny, 
In any heaven, even at your side. 
Our hearts are all too weak, the world too wide, 
You but a woman. If I dare to give 
Some thought, some tenderness, a little pride, 
A little love, 'tis yours, love, to receive. 
And do not grieve, though now the gift appear 
A drop to your love's ocean. Time shall see. 
Oh, I could prophesy; that day is sure, 
Though not perhaps this week, nor month, nor year 
When your great love shall clean forgotten be. 
And my poor tenderness shall yet endure. 
'Tis not the trees that make the tallest show, 
Which stand out stoutest when the tempests blow. 
Blunt. 



156 



Let-Us-Share-In-Joy-And-Care 



sill lEm^lta TUiuiaui 

MADONNA, wherefore hast thou sent to me 
Sweet basil and mignonette? 
Embleming love and health, which never yet 
In the same wreath might be. 
Alas, and they are wet! 
Is it with thy kisses or thy tears? 
For never rain or dew 
Such fragrance drew 
From plant or flower — the very doubt endears 

My sadness ever new, 
The sighs I breathe, the tears I shed for thee. 
Shelley. 

3?aitl)lrs2 i'allij Irnmu 

BUT when he called on Sally Brown, 
To see how she got on. 
He found she 'd got another Ben, 
Whose christian name w^as John 
Hood. 



117 



Live-As-I-Or-EIse-I-Dye 



f^ OD"S love and peace be with thee, where . ; 

^-^ Soe'er this soft autumnal air ' '' 

Lifts the dark tresses of thy hair! 

Whether through city casements comes 
Its kiss to thee, in crowded rooms. 
Or out among the woodland blooms, 

It freshens o'er thy thoughtful face, 
Imparting, in its glad embrace, 
Beauty to beauty, grace to grace! 

Fair Nature's book together read, 

The old wood -paths that knew our tread. 

The maple shadows overhead. 

The hills we climbed, the river seen 
By gleams along its deep ravine, — 
All keep thy memory fresh and green. 



158 



Love-And-Joy-Can-Never-CIoyc 



Where'er I look, where'er I stray, 
Thy thought goes with me on my way, 
And hence the prayer I breathe to-day; 

O'er lapse of time and change of scene, 
The weary waste which lies between 
Thyself and me, my heart I lean. 

Thou lack'st not friendship's spell-word, nor 
The half-unconscious power to draw- 
All hearts to thine by love's sweet law. 

With these good gifts of God is cast 
Thy lot, and many a charm thou hast 
To hold the blessed angels fast. 

If, then, a fervent wish for thee 

The gracious heavens will heed from me. 

What should, dear heart, its burden be ? 



159 



Lovc-And-Pray-Night-And-Daye 



The sighing of a shaken reed, — 
What can I more than meekly plead 
The greatness of our common need ? 

God's love, — unchanging, pure, and true,- 
The paraclete white shining through 
(>, His peace, — the fall of Hermon's dew! 

With such a prayer on this sweet day, 
As thou mayest hear and I may say, 
I greet thee, dearest, far away! 
Whittier. 

\1 7HEN, dearest, I but think of thee, 

' ^ Methinks all things that lovely be 
Are present and my soul delighted. 
Siiclding. 



1 60 



Love-And-Respect-I-Doe-Expect 



V,. 



H 



'E who looks and falls in love, 
If a beauteous face he see, 
Doth himself no lover prove 
By his longing; but if he 
^ #p ' Should a plainer maid admire 

^ His is love, and his is fire. 

All v^rho have discerning eyes 
In a lovely lass delight; 

But v^^ho, vv^hen the arrow flies, 
Pining for a girl less bright, 

Knows the burning heart's desire. 

His is love, and his is fire. 
Sedgwick. 



A 



M I not the nobler through thy love ? 
Or three times less unworthy ? 
Tennyson. 



Lovc-As-I-Or-EIce-I-Die 



"TTIS sweeter than all else below, 

■^ The daylight and its duties done, 
To fold the arms for rest, and so 

Relinquish all regards but one; , ^J\ 

To see her features in the dark; ' "^ 

To lie and meditate once more. 
Some grace he did not fully mark, 

Some tone he had not heard before; 
Then from beneath his head to take 

Her notes, her picture, and her glove, 
Put there for joy when he shall wake. 

And press them to the heart of love; 
And then to whisper "Wife," and pray 

To live so long as not to miss 
That unimaginable day 

Which farther seems the nearer 'tis; 



Love-Ever-Or-Love-Ncver 



And still from joy's unfathomed well 
To drink, in sleep, while, on her brow 

Of innocence ineffable, 

The laughing bridal roses blow. 
Palmare. 

/^ BEING of beauty and bliss! seen and known 
^-^ In the deeps of my soul, and possessed 

there alone! 
My days know thee not; and my lips name thee 

never. 
Thy place in my poor life is vacant forever. 
We have met; we have parted. No more is 

recorded 
In my annals on earth. 

Meredith. 



163 



Lovc-I-Have-Yet-Love-I-Crave 



"T^HUS for a while he stood, and mused by the 
* shore of the ocean, 

Thinking of many things, and most of all of Pris- 

cilla; 
And as if thought had the power to draw to itself, 

like the loadstone. 
Whatsoever it touches, by subtile laws of its nature, 
Lo! as he turned to depart, Priscilla was standing 

beside him. 
"Are you so much offended, you will not speak to 

me?" said she. 
"Am I so much to blame, that yesterday, when 

you were pleading 
Warmly the cause of another, my heart, impulsive 

and wayward, 



164 



Love-I-Like-Thee-Sweet-Requite-Me 



Pleaded your own, and spake out, forgetful per- 
haps of decorum ? 

Certainly you can forgive me for speaking so 
frankly, for saying 

What I ought not to have said, yet now I can never 
unsay it; 

For there are moments in life, when the heart is so 
full of emotion, 

That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths 
like a pebble 

Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its 
secret, 

Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gath- 
ered together. 

Yesterday I was shocked, when I heard you speak 
of Miles Standish, 



167 



Love-Intire-Is-My-Desirc 



Praising his virtues, transforming his very defects 
into virtues, 

Praising his courage and strength, and even his 
fighting in Flanders, 

As if by fighting alone you could win the heart 
of a woman, 

Quite overlooking yourself and the rest, in exalt- 
ing your hero. 

Therefore I spake as I did, by an irresistible im- 
pulse. 

You will forgive me, I hope, for the sake of the 
friendship between us. 

Which is too true and too sacred to be so easily 
broken!" 

Longfellow. 

Prffintrp mih Abafnrt 

WHEN what is lov'd is present, love doth 
spring; 
But being absent, love lies languish- 
ing. 

Her rick. 



i68 




Love-Is-Sure-Where-Faith-Is-Pure 



5^0, (Hintp. ®l|nu ^l|aU Nut InuHt '^^ 



"|\T0, Time, thou shall not boiist that I do change; 
^ ^ Thy pyramids buih up with newer might 
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange; 
They are but dressings of a former sight. 
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire 
What thou dost foist upon us that is old : 
And rather make them born to our desire 
Than think that we before have heard them told. 
Thy registers and thee I both defy, 
Not wondering at the present nor the past, 
For thy records and what we see doth lie. 
Made more or less by thy continual haste. 
This I do vow, and this shall ever be, 
I will be true, des])ite thy scythe and thee. 
Shakespeare. 



:'^ 



ihq 



Love-Mc-Truc-As-I-Do-You 



®n lElmra 

"\ T T'HEN thinking, dreaming, we two are alone, 

And your soft hands are trembhng in my 
own. 
To loving bliss I leave my yearning soul, 
And let the happy hours unheeded roll: 
When in the forest glades, by whispering streams. 

Your soft sighs breathe their music in my ear; 

When I repeat the vows I murmur'd, dear. 
In the wild, broken words of last nights' dreams; 
When on my trembling knees your forehead lies, 

And makes me happy with its sweet repose; 
And when your looks are fasten'd on my eyes, 

Just as a bee upon a summer rose. 
How often then, in my poor throbbing heart, 
I feel some vague, some shadowy terror start; 



170 



Love-Never-Dyes-Whcre-Vertuc-Lycs 



You see me tremble, and I pale — I lie 

As dead, tho' on the breast of happiness, 
And foolish tears flow down, I know not why,— 

With clasping arms, and many a soft caress. 
You look me thro' with loving fears, 
Till your bright pearl-drops mingle with my tears — 
"Oh tell me, darling, of your hidden grief," 

You whisper, " Let me lull and soothe and calm, 
Till my sad heart gives your sick heart relief, 

With kisses long as death and words as soft as 
balm!" 
Ask me no more; sweet, when your soft arms twine, 

And lingering lips, and liquid eyes confess 
That every feeling of your heart is mine, 

I feel as stunn'd with too great happiness: 



171 



Mend-Your-Ways-Love-AU-Your-Daycs 



A': 



^ But in the bosom of each happy day, 

An unknown voice is whispering unknown fears, 
That happiness and love will fly away 

Upon the swift wings of the passing years. 
And love's own torch be quench'd with love's own 
^^-^ bitter tears! — 

That this sweet life, where all things seem 
To be in one long pleasure blended, 
Is but an idle waking dream 

Of happiness that should be ended ! 
Lamartine. 



L 



OVE is a circle that doth restless move 

In the same sweet eternity of love. 

Herrick. 



ni 



My-Dearest-Girl-Is-Good-And-Pretty 



LOVE is not a feeling to pass away, 
Like the balmy breath of a summer-day; 
It is not — it cannot be — laid aside; 
It is not a thing to forget or hide. 
It cHngs to the heart, ah, woe is me ! 
As the ivy clings to the old oak-tree. 

Love is not a passion of earthly mould, 
As a thirst for honor, or fame, or gold; 
For when all these wishes have died away, 
The deep strong love of a brighter day. 
Though nourished in secret, consumes the more, 
As the slow rust eats to the iron's core. 
Dickens. 



173 



My-Faith-I-Bind-Where-Love-I-Find 



Jrom "Slif iltUfr a Sau0l|trr" 

LOOK thro' mine eyes with thine. True wife, 
Round my true heart thine arms entwine; 
My other dearer Hfe in Hfe, 

Look thro' my very soul with thine! 
Untouch 'd with any shade of years, 

May those kind eyes for ever dwell! 
They have not shed a many tears, 

Dear eyes, since first I knew them well. 

Yet tears they shed : they had their part 

Of sorrow: for when time was ripe. 
The still affection of the heart 

Became an outward breathing type, 
That into stillness past again. 

And left a want unknown before; 
Although the loss had brought us pain, 

That loss but made us love the more, 



174 



My-Fond-Delight-By-Day-And-Night 



With farther lockings on. The kiss, 

The woven arms, seem but to me 
Weak symbols of the settled bliss, 

The comfort, I have found in thee. 
But that God bless thee, dear — who wrought 

Two spirits to one equal mind — 
With blessings beyond hope or thought, 

With blessings which no words can find. 
Tennyson. 

(Hlj? HnHarg 

/^~\NE ask'd me where the roses grew. 
^-^ I bade him not go seek. 
But forthwith bade my Julia show 
A bud in either cheek. 
Herrick. 



175 



My-Giving-This-Begins-My-BIiss 



I NE'ER could any lustre see 
In eyes that would not look on me; 
I ne'er saw nectar on a lip, 
But where my own did hope to sip. 
Has the maid who seeks my heart 
Cheeks of rose, untouched by art ? 
I will own the colour true, 
■WTien yielding blushes aid their hue. 

Is her hand so soft and pure ? 
I must press it, to be sure; 
Nor can I be certain then, 
Till it, grateful, press again. 
Must I, with attentive eye, 
Watch her heaving bosom sigh ? 
I will do so when I see 
That heaving bosom sigh for me. 
Sheridan. 



176 



My-Happy-Choyce-Makcs-Mee-Reioyce 



^uitttrt from % PortugupH? 

TF thou must love me, let it be for nought 
^ Except for love's sake only. Do not say 
" I love her for her smile . . her look . . . her way 
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought 
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought 
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" — 
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may 
Be changed, or change for thee, — and love so 

wrought, 
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for 
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry. 
Since one might well forget to weep who bore 
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby. 
But love me for love's sake, that evermore 
Thou mayest love on through love 's eternity. 
Mrs. Browning. 



177 



My-Hart-And-I-Untm-I-Dy 



i>0ttttpt from ti}t portu0UP0f 

A/'ET love, mere love, is beautiful indeed, 
^ And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright, 
Let temple burn, or flax! An equal light 
Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed. 
And love is fire: and when I say at need 
I love thee . . mark! . . / love thee, . . in thy sight 
I stand transfigured, glorified aright. 
With conscience of the new rays that proceed 
Out of my face toward thine. There's nothing low 
In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures 
Who love God, God accepts while loving so. 
And what I Jeel, across the inferior features 
Of what / am, doth flash itself, and show 
How that great work of Love enhances Nature's. 
Mrs. Browning. 



17« 



My-Heart-I-Bind- Where- Faith"I-Find 



TTOW do I love thee? Let me count the ways, 
■^ ■*■ I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 
For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace. 
I love thee to the level of every day's 

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. 

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise; 
I love thee with the passion put to use 

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith; 
I love thee with a love I seem to lose 

With my lost saints — I love thee with the breath 
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose, 

I shall but love thee better after death. 
Mrs. Browning. 



i7q 



My-Heart-Lives-Where-It-Loves 



Jpatt 

f~\^ a' the airts the wind can blaw 
^-^ I dearly like the West, 
For there the bonnie lassie lives, 

The lassie I lo'e best: 
There wild woods grow, and rivers row, 

And mony a hill between; 
But day and night my fancy's iiight 

Is ever wi' my Jean. 

I see her in the dewy flowers, 

I see her sweet and fair: 
I hear her in the tunefu' birds, 

I hear her charm the air: 
There's not a bonnie flower that springs 

By fountain, shaw, or green. 
There's not a bonnie bird that sings 

But minds me o' my Jean. 



i8o 



My-Love-For-Thee-Shall-Endless-Bc 



O blaw ye wpstlin' winds, blaw saft 

Amang the leafy trees; 
Wi' balmy gale, frae hill and dale 

Bring hamc the laden bees; 
And bring the lassie back to me 

That's aye sae neat and clean; 
Ae smile o' her wad banish care, 

Sae charming is my Jean. 

What sighs and vows amang the knowes 

Hae pass'd atween us twa ! 
How fond to meet, how wae to part 

That night she gaed awa! 
The Powers aboon can only ken 

To whom the heart is seen, 
That nane can be sae dear to me 

As my sweet lovely Jean! 
Burns. 



i8i 



My-Love-Is-True-My-Dear-To-You 



A ND on her lover's arm she leant, 
■** And round her waist she felt it fold, 
And far across the hills they went 

In that new world which is the old : 
Across the hills, and far away 

Beyond their utmost purple rim, 
And deep into the dying day 

The happy princess followed him. 

"I'd sleep another hundred years, 

O love, for such another kiss!" 
"Oh! wake forever, love," she hears, 

"O love! 'twas such as this and this." 
And o'er them many a sliding star. 

And many a merry wind was borne. 
And, streamed through many a golden bar. 

The twilight melted into morn. 



182 



My-Love-Is-Truc-To-None-But-You 



"O eyes long laid in happy sleep!" 

"O happy sleep, that lightly fled'." 
"O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!" 

"O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!" 
And o'er them many a flowing range 
Of vapor buoyed the crescent bark, 
And, rapt through many a rosy change, 
The twilight died into the dark. 

"A hundred summers! can it be? 

And wither goest thou, tell me where?" 
"O seek my father's court with me, 

For there are greater wonders there!" 
And o'er the hills, and far away 

Beyond their utmost purple rim, 
Beyond the night, across the day, 
Through all the world she 
followed him. 

Tennyson. 



183 



My-Love-No-Less-Then-I-Profess 



IBnmtg UriiU? 

'T^O see her is to love her, 
■*^ And love but her forever; 
For Nature made her what she is, 
And never made another! 
Burns. 

®l|p ISork of Eubbs attb X\\t (j^warrg 
of pearls 

O OME ask'd me where the rubies grew, 
^ And nothing I did say; 
But with my finger pointed to 

The lips of Julia. 
Some ask'd how pearls did grow, and where; 

Then spoke I to my girl, 
To part her lips, and show'd them there 

The quarrel ets of Pearl. 
Herrick. 



184 



My-Lovc-To-Thee-Like-This-Shall-Be 




*^4'%:; 




AM Hall ©t- 



ISritaiu's SiJa 

T OVE is life's end; an end but never ending; 
^ All joys, all sweets, all happiness awarding; 
Love is life's wealth (ne'er spent but ever spending) , 

Love's life's reward, rewarded in rewarding: 
Then from thy wretched heart fond care remove 
Ah! shouldst thou live but once love's sweets 

to prove, 
Thou wilt not love to live, unless thou live to love. 
Spenser. 

OOMEWHERE or other there must surely be 
^ The face not seen, the voice not heard, 
The heart not yet — never yet — ■ oh me ! 
Made answer to my word. 
Rossetti. 



187 



My-Love-To-Thee-Shall-Endless-Be 



Xl T'HY should I blush to own I love? 
^ ^ 'T is love that rules the realms above. 
Why should I blush to say to all 
That virtue holds my heart in thrall ? 

Why should I seek the thickest shade, 
Lest Love's dear secret be betrayed ? 
Why the stern brow deceitful move, 
When I am languishing with love? 

Is it weakness thus to dwell 
On passion that I dare not tell ? 
Such weakness I would ever prove. 
'T is painful, though 't is sweet, to love. 
While. 



N 



OT to be with you, not to see your face, 
Alas for me then, my good days are done. 
Tennyson. 



1-88 



My-Love-To"Thee-ShaII-Ever-Be 



Ausuirr to a (IIljtl6'fl (i^itrfitiim 

Y\0 you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, 
^-^ the dove, 

The hnnet, and thrush say, "I love, and I love!" 
In winter they 're silent, the wind so strong; 
What it says I don't know, but it sings a loud song. 
But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm 

weather, 
And singing and loving, all come back together. 
But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love. 
The green fields below him, the blue sky above, 
That he sings and he sings, and forever sings he, 
I love my Love, and my Love loves me. 
Coleridge. 

THITHER where he lies buried! 
That single spot is the whole earth to me. 
Coleridge. 



l8g 



No-Gift-Can-Show-The-Love-I-Ow 



A LL June I bound the rose in sheaves. 
-**■ Now, rose by rose, I strip the leaves. 
And strew them where Pauline may pass. 
She will not turn aside ? Alas! 
Let them lie. Suppose they die? 
The chance was they might take her eye. 

How many a month I strove to suit 
These stubborn fingers to the lute! 
To-day I venture all I know. 
She will not hear my music ? Sol 
Break the string — fold music's wing. 
Suppose Pauline had bade me sing! 

My whole life long I learned to love. 

This hour my utmost art I prove 

And speak my passion. — Heaven or hell ? 



190 



No-Hap-So-Hard- As-Love-Debard 



She will not give me heaven ? 'Tis well! 
Lose who may — I still can say, 
Those who win heaven, blest are they. 
Browning. 

OOMEWHERE there waiteth in this world of 






ours 



For one lone soul another lonely soul, 
Each choosing each through all the weary hours 

And meeting strangely at one sudden goal. 
Then blend they, like green leaves with golden 
flowers. 
Into one beautiful and perfect whole; 
And life's long night is ended, and the way 
Lies open onward to eternal day. 
A mold. 



No-Star-To-Me-Soc-Bright-As-Thce 



I\ A Y Lais with her pretty wiles, 
^ ' *■ Subdues me to her will; 
However sweet may be her smiles, 
Her tears are sweeter still. 

The other day, she wept, and when 

She laid her head at this 
Close up against my shoulder, then 

I gave the girl a kiss. 

And as a trickling streamlet drips 
Down from a fountainside, 

Her tears fell on our meeting lips: — 
I asked her why she cried. 

She said: "You wonder at my tears; 

What should I do but grieve? 
You fill me with too many fears; 

I know that men deceive." 
Sedgwick. 



192 



Not-Thine-Nor-Mine-But-Ours 



'T^ALK not of wasted affection, affection never 
* was wasted. 
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, 

returning 
Back to their springs, Hke the rain, shall fill them 
full of refreshment. 

LongjeUcnc. 

0:i)c ilatti 31 Hour 

"T^HE maid I love ne'er thought of me 
^ Amid the scenes of gaiety; 
But when her heart or mine sank low, 

Ah then it was no longer so. 
From the slant palm she rais'd her head. 

And kist the cheek whence youth had lied. 
Angels! some future day for this, 
Give her as sweet and pure a kiss. 
Landor. 



193 



Not-Two-But-One-Till-Life-Be-Done 



A (Eomplamt 

T^HERE is a change, — and I am poor; 
^ Your love hath been, nor long ago, 
A fountain at my fond heart's door, 

WTiose only business was to flow ; 
And flow it did, not taking heed 

Of its own bounty, or my need. 

What happy moments did I count! 

Blest was I then all bliss above! 
Now, for that consecrated fount 

Of murmuring, sparkling, living love, 
What have I ? Shall I dare to tell ? 

A comfortless and hidden well. 

A well of love; it may be deep, — 

I trust it is, — and never dry. 
What matter? If the waters sleep 



194 



Of-AII-The-Rest-I-Love-Thee-Best 



In silence and obscurity. 
Such change, and at the very door 

Of my fond heart, hath made me poor. 
Wordsworth. 

MY bride, my wife, my Hfe. O we will walk 
this world, 
Yoked in all exercise of noble end 
And so thro' those dark gates across the wild 
That no man knows. Indeed I love thee: come 
Yield thyself up: my hopes and thine are one: 
Accomplish thou my manhood and thyself; 
Lay thy sweet hands in mine and trust to me. 
Tennyson. 

O VE strikes one hour — love ! those 
never loved, 
Who dream that they loved once. 
Mrs. Browning. 



L 



195 



Of-Rapturous-Joye-I-Am-The-Toy 



OHE dwelt among the untrodden ways 
^ Beside the springs of Dove; 
A maid whom there were none to praise, 
And very few to love. 

A violet by a mossy stone 

Half hidden from the eye! 
— Fair as a star, when only one 

Is shining in the sky. 

She lived unknown, and few could know 

When Lucy ceased to be; 
But she is in her grave, and Oh ! 

The difference to me! 

Words-ctmrth. 



T 



OO full of love my soul is to find place 
For fear or anger. 

Arnold. 



196 



One-Word-For-All-I-Love-And-Shall 



'X'HEIR little language the children 
* Have, on the knee as they sit; 
And only those who love them 
Can find the key to it. 

The words thereof and the grammar 

Perplex the logician's art; 
But the heart goes straight with the meaning, 

And the meaning is clear to the heart. 

So thou, my Love, hast a language 

That in little says all to me; — 
But the world cannot guess the sweetness 

Which is hidden with love and thee. 

Palgrave. 

IVTOTHING is better, I well know, 
^ ^ Than love. 

Swinburne. 



1 97 



Prepared-Be-To-FoUow-Me 



3lf » i^txh met 

TF we had met when leaves were green, 
■*■ And fate to us less hard had proved, 
And naught had been of what has been, 
We might have loved as none have loved. 

If we had met as girl and boy, 
The world of pleasure at our feet, 
Our joy had been a perfect joy, 
We might have met, but did not meet. 

Nor less in youth's full passionate day, 
A woman you and I a man, 
We might have loved and found a way 
No laws could check, no vows could ban. 

Too late! Too sad! A year ago, 
Even then perhaps, in spite of fate, 



198 



Rather-Dye-Than-Faith-Deny 



It might have been, but, ah, not now, 
I dare not love you, 'tis too late. 
Blunt. 

#I|? ta Not Jatr 

QHE is not fair to outward view 
^ As many maidens be; 
Her loveliness I never knew 

Until she smiled on me. 
O then I saw her eye was bright, 

A well of love, a spring of light. 

But now her looks are coy and cold, 

To mine they ne'er reply, 
And yet I cease not to behold 

The love-light in her eye: 
Her very frowns arc fairer far 

Than smiles of other maidens are. 
Coleridge. 



199 



Remember-Mee-When-This-You-See 



3lmUatf& from (Halullua 

TO ELLEN 

/^H! might I kiss those eyes of tire, 
^^ A milhon scarce would quench desire: 
Still would I steep my lips in bliss, 
And dwell an age on every kiss: 
Nor then my soul should sated be; 
Still would I kiss and cling to thee: 
Nought should my kiss from thine dissever; 
Still would we kiss, and kiss forever; 
E'en though the numbers did exceed 
The yellow harvest's countless seed. 
To part would be a vain endeavor: 
Could I desist ? — ah ! never — never 
Byron. 



Remember-This-And-Give-A-Kisse 



"Xl n-v pledged our hearts, my love and I, 
" I in my arms the maiden clasping; 

I could not tell the reason why, 
But, oh! I trembled like an aspen. 

Her father's love she bade me gain; 

I went, and shook like any reed! 
I strove to act the man — in vain! 

We had exchanged our hearts indeed. 
Coleridge. 

Mrtting 

\ 1 niEN words we want, Love teacheth to 

indite; 
And what we blush to speak, she'bids us write. 
Herrick. 



Sweetheart-I-Pray-Do-Not-Say-Nay 



31 WaxUh mn ll|e ©miltglit 

T WAITED till the twilight, 

And yet he did not come; 
I strayed along the brookside, 

And slowly wandered home; 
When who should come behind me, 

But him I would have chid; 
He said he came to find me— 

Do you really think he did? 

He said since last we parted, 

He'd thought of nought so sweet, 
As of this very moment, — 

The moment w^e should meet. 
He showed me where, half-shaded, 

A cottage home lay hid. 
He said for me he'd made it — 

Do vou really think he did ? 



That-Fricnd-Is-True-Who-Treasures-You 



He said when first he saw me, 

Life seemed at once divine, 
Each night he dreamed of angels, 

And every face was mine; 
Sometimes a voice in sleeping 

Would all his hopes forbid; 
And then he 'd waken weeping — 

Do you really think he did ? 
Swain. 

(3n (SiUy-iPlouirrH ^rgottrtt 

\1 7HAT was't that fell but now 

From that warm kiss of ours? 
Look, look! by love I vow 

They were two gilly-flowers. 
Let's kiss and kiss again. 
For if so be our closes 
Make gilly-flowers, then 

I'm sure they'll fashion roses. 
Herrick. 



203 



The-Gift-Is-Small-But-Love-Is-All 



T WANDER'D by the brook-side, 
■^ I wander'd by the mill, — 
I could not hear the brook flow, 

The noisy wheel was still; 
There was no burr of grasshopper, 

Nor chirp of any bird. 
But the beating of my own heart 

Was all the sound I heard. 

I sat beneath the elm-tree, 

I watch'd the long, long shade, 
And as it grew still longer, 

I did not feel afraid; 
For I listen'd for a footfall, 

I listen'd for a word, — 
But the beating of my own heart 

Was all the sound I heard. 



20 J 



The-Love-Is-True-That-I-O-U 




•;;>« H^ LV.. 



He came not, — no, he came not, — ■ 

The night came on alone, — 
The little stars sat, one by one, 

Each on his golden throne; 
The evening air pass'd by my cheek, 

The leaves above were stirr'd — 
But the beating of my own heart 

Was all the sound I heard. 

Fast silent tears were flowing. 

When something stood behind, — 
A hand was on my shoulder, 

I knew its touch was kind: 
It drew me nearer — nearer, — 

We did not speak one word, 
For the beating of our own hearts 

Was all the sound we heard. 
Houghton. 



207 



The-Sight-Of-Thee-Is-Joy-To-Me 



\T /'ARMED by her hand and shadowed by 
her hair 
As close she leaned and poured her heart dirough 

thee., 
Whereof the articulate throbs accompany 
The smooth black stream that makes thy white- 
ness fair, — 
Sweet fluttering sheet, even of her breath aware, — 
Oh, let thy silent song disclose to me 
That soul wherewith her lip and eyes agree 
Like married music in Love's answering air. 

Fain had I watched her when, at some fond 
thought 
Her bosom to the writing closelier press 'd. 
And her breast's secrets peered into her breast; 



208 



This-And-I-Until-I-Die 



When, through eyes raised an instant, her soul 

sought 
My soul, and from the sudden confluence caught 
The words that made her love the loveliest. 
Rfls.sclti. 

"T^HE water lingers where the leaves 
^ Of lilies white are lying, 
The daylight there, on summer eves, 
With dim regret is dying. 

Only the shadows noiselessly 

Now brood the white leaves over. 
So, when mine eyes must turn from thee 
Each sad thought is thy lover. 
BoiirdiUoii. 



This-RiQg-Doth-Binde-Body-And-Minde 



L' 



OVE me little, love me long! 

Is the burden of my song; 
Love that is too hot and strong 

Burneth soon to waste. 
Still I would not have thee cold, 
Not too backward, nor too bold; 
Love that lasteth till 'tis old 

Fadeth not in haste. 
Love me little, love me long! 
Is the burden of my song. 

If thou lovest me too much 
'Twill not prove as true a touch; 
Love me little more than such, — 

For I fear the end. 
I'm with little well content. 
And a little from thee sent 
Is enough with true intent 

To be steadfast, friend. 



This-Take-For-My-Sake 



Say thou lovest me, while thou hve 
I to thee my love will give, 
Never dreaming to deceive 

While that life endures; 
Nay, and after death in sootli, 
I to thee will keep my truth, 
As now when in my May of youth; 

This my love assures. 

Constant love is moderate ever. 
And it will through life persevcr; 
Give me that with true endeavour, — 

I will it restore. 
A suit of durance let it be, 
For all weathers, — that for me, — 
For the land or for the sea, 

Lasting ever more. 

Winter's cold or summer's heat. 
Autumn's tempests on it beat; 
It can never know defeat. 
Never can rebel. 



Thy-Consent-Is-My-Content 



Such the love that I would gain, 

Such the love, I tell thee plain, 

Thou must give, or woo in vain 

So to thee — Farewell. 

Anonyiiwus. 

T N the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the 
^ robin's breast; 

In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself 
another crest; 

In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd 

dove ; 
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to 

thoughts of love. 

Tennvsou. 



Thy-Friend-Am-I-And-So- Will-Dye 



L 



"\1 /"HERE is my heart, perfidious boy? 
^^ Give it, ah give it back again! 
I ask no more for hours of joy, 

Lift but thy arm, and burst my chain. 

"Fond man the heart we rashly gave 
She prizes not but won't restore; 

She passes on from slave to slave — 
Go, go; thy heart is thine no more." 
Landor. 

Jrmn **®1|p ICaat iEtustrpr* 

OVE rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
And men below, and saints above. 
For love is heaven and heaven is love. 
Scott. 



213 



Thy-Happy-Choyce-Makes-Me-Rejoyce 



f nu Aak Mt for a fkh^t, ^oxtt 

V/'OU ask me for a pledge, love, but gaze upon 
•*^ my cheek. 

And let its hue, when thou art near, my heart's de- 
votion speak; 

Look on my dim and tearful eye, my pale and rigid 
brow. 

List to my deep, unbidden sigh, — what need of 
pledge or vow ! 

You ask me for a pledge, love, some token of my 

troth; 
Take then this flower, an emblem meet of woman 's 

blighted youth; 
The perfume of its withered leaves, triumphant 

o'er decay, 
May whisper of my changeless love when I have 
passed away ! 



214 



Till-Death-Devide-What-Ere-Betide 



What, vet another pledge, love; then mark me 

while I vow. 
By all this heart hath borne for thee, by all it 

suffers now; 
In grief or gladness, hope, despair, in bliss or 

misery, 

I'll be what I have ever been — to thee, to only 

thee 1 

Watts. 

iFrmn (Enrtolattun. 

/^H, a kiss 

^^ Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge! 
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss 
I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip 
Hath virgined it e'r since. 

Shakespeare. 



215 



Tis-In-Your-WiU-To-Save-Or-KiU 



iFrom "iHauiJ" 

QUEEN rose of the rosebud garden of girls, 
Come hither, the dances are done, 
In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, 

Queen lily and rose in one; 
Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, 
To the flowers, and be their sun. 

There has fallen a splendid tear 

From the passion-flower at the gate. 
She is coming, my dove, my dear; 

She is coming, my life, my fate; 
The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;" 

And the white rose weeps, "She is late;" 
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;" 

And the lily whispers, "I wait." 



216 



Tis-Thy-Desert-Hath-Woone-My-Heart 



She is coming, my own, my sweet; 

Were it ever so airy a tread, 
IVIy heart would hear her and beat, 

Were it earth in an earthly bed; 
My dust would hear her and beat, 

Had I lain for a century dead; 
Would start and tremble under her feet, 

And blossom in purple and red. 
Tennyson. 

A Harmng 

'THRUST no prayer nor promise; 
^ Words are grains of sand : 
To keep your heart unbroken, 
Hold it in your hand. 
Procter. 



217 



Tis-True-As-Old-Hot-Love-Soon-Cold 



I HAVE seen her, with her golden hair, 

•^ And her exquisite primrose face, 

And the violet in her eyes; 

And my heart received its own despair — 

The thrall of a hopeless grace. 

And the knowledge of how youth aies. 

Live hair afloat with snakes of gold, 

And a throat as white as snow, 

And a stately figure and foot, 

And that faint, pink smile, so sweet and cold. 

Like a wood-anemone cloud below 

The shade of an ilex root. 

And her delicate, milk-white hand in mine, 
And her pensive voice in my ear. 
And her eyes downcast as we speak. 



218 



To-Live-In-Love-I-Love-To-Live 



I am filled with a rapture vague and fine, 
For there has fallen a sparkling tear 
Over her soft pale cheek. 

And I know that all is hopeless now, 

And that which might have been. 

Had she only waited a year or two, 

Is turned to a wild regret, I know, 

Which will haunt us both, whatever the scene, 

And whatever the path we go. 

Meanwhile, for one moment, hand in hand, 
We gaze on each other's eyes, 
And the red moon rises above us. 
We linger in love with the lovely land — 
Italy, with its yearning skies. 
And its wild, white stars above us. 
Meredith. 



219 



Upon a Hirijin Kiastng a ISosp 

TWAS but a single rose, 
Till you on it did breathe; 
But since, methinks, it shows 
Not so much rose as wreath. 
Hcrrick. 

So lianfme 

SWEET, be not proud of those two eyes 
Which star-like sparkle in their skies; 
Nor be you proud, that you can see 
All hearts your captives; yours yet free: 
Be you not proud of that rich hair 
Which wantons with the lovesick air; 
When as that ruby which you wear, 
Sunk from the tip of your soft ear. 
Will last to be a precious stone 
When all your world of beauty's gone. 
Hcrrick. 



To-Thee-My-Love-FU-Constant-Prove 



LOVE is not to be reasoned down or lost 
In high ambition, and a thirst of greatness. 
'Tis second life, it grows into the soul, 
Warms every vein, and beats in every pulse. 
Addison. 

A WEAK white girl 
Held all his heartstrings in her small white hand; 
His youth, and power, and majesty were hers. 
And not his own. 

Ingelow. 

®0 a Jatr ilatJicn 

FAIR maiden! when I look at thee 
I wish I could be young and free; 
But both at once, ah! who could be? 
Landor. 



223 



United-Hartes-Death-Only-Partes 



T^IME is pressing on us now 
'^ Sowing wrinkles on each brow; 
If we must grow old in sooth, 
Keep we all we can of youth; 
But each step we take seems bringing 
Flowers in wild profusion springing, 
More than we can hope to hold, 
Friends, this is not growing old. 

Sparkling juice and merry song 
Gayly chase the hours along; 
Guests around our table may 
Whisper that our locks are gray, 
What care we if rosy wine 
Tells us of a youth divine, 
If our hearts are never cold; 
Friends, this is not growing old. 



When-Love-Is-Dead-My-Joys-Are-FIed 



W if 

' Does a laughing, roguish eye, y \ 

I ' Snare us, as in clays gone by, 

Hinting, in a saucy fashion, 
Age is scarcely meant for passion — 
Less we love the less we spend, > 

Of a mistress make a friend, 
I' Careless if she smile or scold; 

'41 A Friends, this is not growing old. /^ J/.-j 

VY' ' If ii'i spite of merry cheer 

'']; Age should try to catch us here. 

Let us boldly, bravely meet him, 
All together we must greet him; ^ 
So by our fireside, whenever 
Old age comes, we'll all together 
Jeer him back into the cold; 
Friends, this is not growing old, 
Beranger, 



225 



b- ■< 



You-And-I-Will-Loveres-Dye 



2inhtK to iFtrst Htnrs 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough ...... 147 

A crash of boughs! one through them breaking . ... . 142 

A mighty pain of love it is . . . . . . . - 47 

A sweet "No; no;" with a sweet smile beneath .... 147 

A weak white girl ...... ... . 223 

All June I bound the rose in sheaves . . . . . . 190 

All thoughts; all passions; all delights ...... 67 

Am I not the nobler through thy love? ...... 161 

And on her lover's arm she leant ....... 182 

Anthony — How I loved ........ 67 

As I came in by our gate end ........ 144 

As thro' the land at eve we went ....... 101 

Birds in the high Hall-garden . . . . . . . - 134 

But when he called on Sally Brown . . . . . . 157 

By love must love be mastered, fire by fire ...... 61 

Catch her and hold her if you can . . . . . . . 148 

Darby dear, we are old and gray ....... 28 

Dear Elpis, all my thoughts and all my wishes are for thee . . 154 

Dost thou remember that place so lonely . . . . . - 32 

Do you ask what the birds say? . . . . . . . 189 

Do you know you have asked for tlie costliest thing . . . .24 

Do you remember when you heard ...... 23 

Drink to me only with thine eyes . . . . . . - 76 

Each on his own strict line we move . . . . . . 117 

Eyes of gray — a sodden quay . . . . . . . .114 

Fair Maiden! when I look at thee ....... 223 

Faith, I thought him dead. Not he! 87 

First time he kissed me, he but only kissed ..... 33 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may ....... 56 

227 



iuiirx ta iKtrst IGuttB 

Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand ..... 68 

Go, lovely rose ! .......... gi 

God's love and peace be with thee . . . . . . . 158 

"Good-night?" No, love! the night is ill 78 

Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence . . . 34 
He who looks and falls in love . . . . . . . .161 

How delicious is the winning ....... 90 

How do I love thee ? Let me count the ways . . . . - 179 

How many times do I love thee, dear ?...... 30 

I cannot love you,- love, as you love me . . . . . - 156 

I did not choose thee, dearest. It was love ..... 73 

I envy not in any moods ......... 54 

I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden . . . . . . . 117 

I have seen her, with her golden hair . . . . . . .218 

I love, too, to be loved; all loving praise . . ... 94 

I love you. Words are small ........ 84 

"I may not love thee," "May not!" but I do . . . . . 93 

I ne'er could any lustre see . . . . . . . .176 

I only see that thou art near ........ 37 

I waited till the twilight ......... 202 

I wandered by the brook-side ........ 204 

I will not love one minute more, I swear ...... 53 

I wish I could remember that first day ...... 48 

If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange ...... 80 

If thou must love me, let it be for naught . . . . . . 177 

If we had met when leaves were green . . . . . .198 

I'm thinking, my sweet Myrrha ....... 143 

Indeed, this very love which is my boast ...... 50 

In the night she told a story . . . . . . . . 112 

In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast . . .212 

In the year that's come and gone ....... 140 

It is not because your heart is mine . . . . . . - 152 

It lies not in our power to love and hate . . . . . . 131 

It was Maytime ........... 84 

Kissing her hair I sat against her feet . . . . . . 31 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds ...... 49 

228 



3iuiirx In iFirst IGiuea 

Life hath its memories lovely ........ 63 

Lilac and gold and green! ......... 138 

Look thro' mine eyes with thine . . . . . . . 174 

Love comes back to his vacant dwelling ...... 149 

Love is life's end ; an end but never ending ..... 187 

Love is a circle that doth restless move . . . . . . .172 

Love is not to be reasoned down or lost . . . . . . 223 

Love is not a feeling to pass away . . . . . . - 173 

Love me little, love me long! ........ 210 

Love me a little, love me as thou wilt . . . . . . .82 

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove . . . . . . 213 

Love thee? — so well, so tenderly . . . . . . . .110 

Love strikes one hour ...... . . 195 

Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me . . . . . - 157 

Maid of Athens, ere we part ........ 132 

Man's love is of man's life a thing apart . . . . . .121 

May in the woods and in my heart ....... 39 

My bride, my wife, my life . . . . . . . . - ^95 

My fairest love, Rhodanthe, when she found ..... 52 

My Lais with her pretty wiles . . . . . . . .192 

My letters! all dead paper, mute and white I ..... 44 

My soul would one day go and seek ....... 87 

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his . . . . . 155 

Nature hath crowned thee with her fairest crown . . . . .81 

Nay, do not pity me, that not a star ....... 69 

No, .Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change . . . . .169 

Not to be with you, not to see your face . . . . . . 188 

Nothing is better, I well know, than love ...... 197 

O being of beauty and bliss! seen and known . . . . . 163 

O days and hours, your work is this ....... 79 

O near ones, dear ones! you, in whose right hands .... 100 

O never say that I was false of heart ....... 92 

O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are . . . . . 72 

O'er my darling's cheeks the lashes . . . . . . - 57 

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw . . . . . . . 180 

Often I have heard it said . . . . . . . . - 113 

22g 



Oh, a kiss . . . . . . . . . . . 215 

Oh, Beauty, passing beauty! sweetest Sweet! . . . . .122 

Oh, love, love well, but only once! . . . . . . . 131 

Oh! might I kiss those eyes of fire ....... 200 

Oh, my luve's like a red, red rose ....... 55 

Oh, no — not e'en when first we loved ....... 41 

Oh! say not woman's heart is bought ...... 40 

"Oh, take this flower, dear love," said he ..... . 136 

Oh, there's a heart for every one ....... 98 

One ask'd me where the roses grew . . . . . . . 175 

Passions are likened best to floods and streams . . . . . 141 

Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls . . . . . .216 

Roses at first were white ......... gg 

Rose kissed me to-day . . . . . . . . .116 

She dwelt among the untrodden ways . . . . . . ig6 

She has laughed as softly as if she sighed! . . . . . .118 

She is a winsome wee thing ........ 62 

She is not fair to outward view . . . . . . . - 199 

She laughed — she climbed the giddy height . . . . . 1 1 1 

She walks in beauty, like the night ....... log 

She was a phantom of delight . . . . . . . . 104 

Some ask'd me where the rubies grew . . . . . . .184 

Somewhere or other there must surely be . . . . . . 187 

Somewhere there waiteth in this world of ours . . . . . igi 

Sweet and low, sweet and low ........ 64 

Sweet, be not proud of those two eyes . . . . . . .220 

Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted . . . ig3 

That thou hast her, it is not all my grief ...... 74 

That which her slender waist confined ...... 58 

The almond blossoms on this tree ....... g6 

The bond that links our souls together . . . . . . 128 

The fountains mingle with the river . . ..... 5g 

The maid I love ne'er thought of me . . . . . . 193 

The night has a thousand eyes ........ 133 

The sense of the world is short ....... g7 

The water lingers where the leaves ....... 209 

230 



31niirx tu iEiriit ICuira 

Then, dearest, I but think of thee . . . . . . . i6o 

Then, in that time and place, I spoke to her . . . . . - 37 

Then to my room .......... 102 

There is a change, — and I am poor . . . . . . .194 

There is a flower I wish to wear . . . . . . . 121 

There is no Hfe on earth but being in love! ...... 47 

There is no gladness in the glass ....... yy 

There's a woman like a dew-drop . . . . . . . 1 50 

Their little language the children . . . . . . . igy 

They sin who tell us love can die ........ 38 

Thither where he lies buried . ... ... 189 

Time is pressing on us now . . . . . . . .224 

Time, my pretty one, is flying ........ 88 

'Tis sweeter than all else below . . . . . . .162 

Thus continued Hiawatha . . . . . . . . 124 

Thus for a while he stood . . . . . . . .164 

To idealize our very dreams ........ 103 

To see her is to love her . . . . . . . . .184 

Too full of love my soul is to find place . . . . . . 196 

True love is but a humble, low-born thing ...... 60 

Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke . . . . . 75 

Trust no prayer nor promise . . . . . . . .217 

'Twas but a single rose . . . . . . . . . 220 

Twin stars aloft in ether clear ........ 70 

Two lovers by a moss-grown spring . . . . . . . 21 

Two young fair lovers . . . . . . . . -135 

Warmed by her hand and shadowed by her hair .... 208 

We pledged our hearts, my love and I . . . . . .201 

Were I as base as is the lowly plain . . . . . . . 27 

What has life taught me ? ........ 95 

What need of words when lovers meet ? . . . . . . 137 

What was't that fell but now ........ 203 

When age chills the blood, when our pleasures arc past . . . 120 

When, dearest, I but think of thee . . . . . . .160 

When in that time and place I spoke to her . . . . . 37 

When other friends are round thee ...... 43 



Stitipx to il^trst iJlxma 

When thinking, dreaming, we two are alone . . . . « .170 

When thou art near me . . . . - - - . - 108 

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought . . . . . - 123 

When what is lov'd is present, love doth spring . . . . . 168 

When words we want, Love teacheth to indite ..... 201 

Where is my heart, perfidious boy? . ■ . . - - - - 213 

Why" should I blush to own I love ? . . . - - . .188 

Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon ....... 42 

Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed . . . . . .178 

You ask for a pledge, love, but gaze upon my cheeks . . . 214 

You'll love me yet! — ^ and I can tarry 71 

You say, to me- wards your affection's strong . . . . . 151 
You touched my heart; it gave a thrill . 139 



'{^^. 



232 



f\ 



AUG 27 I9t» 



4J-U 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 760 767 r 



:':':-:*V.-;jy 



I 



_^;>ic|^p;;: 



•.t^i 















